Sir Joshua Reynolds pinx
1756. J. H
ath sculp
SAMUEL JOHNSON. From the original Picture in the Possession of James B
ell Esq
Published April 10. 17
. by C. Dilly.
THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D. COMPREHENDING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS STUDIES AND NUMEROUS WORKS, IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER; A SERIES OF HIS EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE AND CONVERSATIONS WITH MANY EMINENT PERSONS; AND VARIOUS ORIGINAL PIECES OF HIS COMPOSITION, NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED. THE WHOLE EXHIBITING A VIEW OF LITERATURE AND LITERARY MEN IN GREAT-BRITAIN, FOR NEAR HALF A CENTURY, DURING WHICH HE FLOURISHED. IN TWO VOLUMES. BY JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ.
—Quò fit ut
OMNIS
Votiva pateat valuti descripta tabella
VITA SENIS.—
HORAT.
VOLUME THE FIRST.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY HENRY BALDWIN, FOR CHARLES DILLY, IN THE POULTRY. M DCC XCI.
DEDICATION. TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
MY DEAR SIR,
EVERY liberal motive that can actuate an Authour in the dedication of his labours, concurs in directing me to you, as the person to whom the following work should be inscribed.
If there be a pleasure in celebrating the distinguished merit of a contemporary, mixed with a certain degree of vanity not altogether inexcusable, in appearing fully sensible of it, where can I find one in complimenting whom I can with more general approbation gratify those feelings? Your excellence, not only in the Art over which you have long presided with unrivalled fame, but also in Philosophy and elegant Literature, is well known to the present, and will continue to be the admiration of future ages. Your equal and placid temper, your variety of conversation, your true politeness, by which you are so amiable in private society, and that enlarged hospitality which has long made your house a common centre of union for the great, the accomplished, the learned, and the ingenious; all these qualities I can, in perfect confidence of not being accused of flattery, ascribe to you.
If a man may indulge an honest pride, in having it known to the world, that he has been thought worthy of particular attention by a person of the first eminence in the age in which he lived, whose company has been universally courted, I am justified in availing myself of the usual privilege of a Dedication, when I mention that there has been a long and uninterrupted friendship between us.
If gratitude should be acknowledged for favours received, I have this opportunity, my dear Sir, most sincerely to thank you for the many happy hours which I owe to your kindness—for the cordiality with which you have at all times been pleased to welcome me—for the number of valuable acquaintances to whom you have introduced me—for the
noctes coenaeque Deûm,
which I have enjoyed under your roof.
If a work should be inscribed to one who is master of the subject of it, and whose approbation, therefore, must ensure it credit and success, the Life of Dr. Johnson is, with the greatest propriety, dedicated to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was the intimate and beloved friend of that great man; the friend, whom he declared to be
"the most invulnerable man he knew; with whom, if he should quarrel, he should find the most difficulty how to abuse."
You, my dear Sir, studied him, and knew him well: you venerated and admired him. Yet, luminous as he was upon the whole, you perceived all the shades which mingled in the grand composition, all the little peculiarities and slight blemishes which marked the literary Colossus. Your very warm commendation of the specimen which I gave in my
"Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,"
of my being able to preserve his conversation in an authentick and lively manner, which opinion the Publick has confirmed, was the best encouragement for me to persevere in my purpose of producing the whole of my stores.
In one respect this work will in some passages be different from the former. In my
"Tour"
I was almost unboundedly open in my communications; and from my eagerness to display the wonderful fertility and readiness of Johnson's wit, freely shewed to the world its dexterity, even when I was myself the object of it. I trusted that I should be liberally understood, as knowing very well what I was about, and by no means as simply unconscious of the pointed effects of the satire. I own, indeed, that I was arrogant enough to suppose that the tenor of the rest of the book would sufficiently guard me against such a strange imputation. But it seems I judged too well of the world; for, though I could scarcely believe it, I have been undoubtedly informed, that many persons, especially in distant quarters, not penetrating enough into Johnson's character so as to understand his mode of treating his friends, have arraigned my judgement, instead of seeing that I was sensible of all that they could observe.
It is related of the great Dr. Clarke, that when in one of his leisure hours he was unbending himself with a few friends in the most playful and frolicksome manner, he observed Beau Nash approaching; upon which he suddenly stopped:—
"My boys, (said he,) let us be grave: here comes a fool."
The world, my friend, I have found to be a great fool, as to that particular, on which it has become necessary to speak very plainly. I have, therefore, in this work been more reserved; and though I tell nothing but the truth, I have still kept in my mind that the whole truth is not always to be exposed. This, however, I have managed so as to occasion no diminution of the pleasure which my book should afford; though malignity may sometimes be disappointed of its gratifications.
I am,
My dear Sir,
Your much obliged friend, And faithful humble servant, JAMES BOSWELL.
London,
April
0, 1791.
ADVERTISEMENT.
I At last deliver to the world a Work which I have long promised, and of which, I am afraid, too high expectations have been raised. The delay of its publication must be imputed, in a considerable degree▪ to the extraordinary zeal which has been shewn by distinguished persons in all quarters to supply me with additional information concerning its illustrious Subject; resembling in this the grateful tribes of ancient nations▪ of which every individual was eager to throw a stone upon the grave of a departed Hero, and thus to share in the pious office of erecting an honourable monument to his memory.
The labour and anxious attention with which I have collected and arranged the materials of which these volumes are composed, will hardly be conceived by those who read them with careless facility. The stretch of mind and prompt assiduity by which so many conversations were preserved, I myself, at some distance of time, contemplate with wonder; and I must be allowed to suggest, that the nature of the work in other respects, as it consists of innumerable detached particulars, all which, even the most minute, I have spared no pains to ascertain with a scrupulous authenticity, has occasioned a degree of trouble far beyond that of any other species of composition. Were I to detail the books which I have consulted, and the inquiries which I have found it necessary to make by various channels, I should probably be thought ridiculously ostentatious. Let me only observe, as a specimen of my trouble, that I have sometimes had to run half over London, in order to fix a date correctly; which, when I had accomplished, I well knew would obtain me no praise, though a failure would have been to my discredit. And after all perhaps, hard as it may be, I shall not be surprized if omissions or mistakes be pointed out with invidious severity. I have also been extremely careful as to the exactness of my quotations; holding that there is a respect due to the Publick which should oblige every Author to attend to this, and never to presume to introduce them with—
"I think I have read;"
—or,—
"If I remember right;"
—when the originals may be examined.
I beg leave to express my warmest thanks to those who have been pleased to favour me with communications and advice in the conduct of my Work▪ But I cannot sufficiently acknowledge my obligations to my friend Mr. Malone, who was so good as to allow me to read to him almost the whole of my manuscript, and made such remarks as were greatly for the advantage of the Work; though it is but fair to him to mention, that upon many occasions I differed from him, and followed my own judgement. I regret exceedingly that I was deprived of the benefit of his revision, when but about one half of the book had passed through the press; but after having completed his very laborious and admirable edition of Shakspeare, for which he generously would accept of no other reward but that fame which he has so deservedly obtained, he fulfilled his promise of a long-wished-for visit to his relations in Ireland; from whence his safe return
finibus Atticis
is desired by his friends here, with all the classical ardour of
Sic te Diva potens Cypri;
for there is no man in whom more elegant and worthy qualities are united; and whose society therefore is more valued by those who know him.
It is painful to me to think, that while I was carrying on this Work, several of those to whom it would have been most interesting have died. Such melancholy disappointments we know to be incident to humanity; but we do not feel them the less. Let me particularly lament the Reverend Thomas Warton, and the Reverend Dr. Adams. Mr. Warton, amidst his variety of genius and learning, was an excellent Biographer. His contributions to my Collection are highly estimable; and as he had a true relish of my
"Tour to the Hebrides,"
I trust I should now have been gratified with a larger share of his kind approbation. Dr. Adams, eminent as the Head of a College, as a writer, and as a most amiable man, had known Johnson from his early years, and was his friend through life. What reason I had to hope for the countenance of that venerable Gentleman to this Work, will appear from what he wrote to me upon a former occasion from Oxford, November
17, 1785:—
"Dear Sir, I hazard this letter, not knowing where it will find you, to thank you for your very agreeable 'Tour, which I found here on my return from the country, and in which you have depicted our friend so perfectly to my fancy, in every attitude, every scene and situation, that I have thought myself in the company, and of the party almost throughout. It has given very general satisfaction; and those who have found most fault with a passage here and there, have agreed that they could not help going through, and being entertained through the whole. I wish, indeed, some few gross expressions had been softened, and a few of our hero's foibles had been a little more shaded; but it is useful to see the weaknesses incident to great minds; and you have given us Dr. Johnson's authority that in history all ought to be told."
Such a sanction to my faculty of giving a just representation of Dr. Johnson I could not conceal. Nor will I suppress my satisfaction in the consciousness, that by recording so considerable a portion of the wisdom and wit of
"the brightest ornament of the eighteenth century
See Mr. Malone's Preface to his edition of Shakspeare.
,"
I have largely provided for the instruction and entertainment of mankind.
London,
April 20, 1791.
ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS, TO BOTH VOLUMES.
The
Letters
▪ refer to the
Volume,
the
Figures
to the
Page.
A.
ABINGDON, Lord, ii. 323.
—Mrs. i. 462, 4, 7, 478.
Abjuration, oath of, i. 463.
Academy Royal, instituted, 308.
Actors, i. 90, 107, 320, 405; ii. 36, 163, 239, 332, 3, 468.
Adams, Reverend Dr. i. 24, 32, 144; ii. 23, 106, 496, 511, 554, 578.
—Miss, ii. 501, 2.
Addison, Johnson's opinion of, i. 123, 231, 477; ii. 67, 257.
—his style compared with Johnson's, i. 122.
—Johnson's life of, ii. 356, 383.
Adey, Miss, ii. 37, 306.
'Adventurer,' Hawkesworth's, i. 127, 135, 6, 7, 8.
Adultery, i. 302, 413; ii. 262.
Akenside's poetry, i. 363; ii. 59.
Akerman, Mr. character and anecdotes of, ii. 319, 320.
Alfred, Johnson's desire to write his life, i. 95.
—his will, ii. 410.
Allen, Mr. the printer, ii. 214, 384.
America and The Americans, i. 444, 5, 458; ii. 175, 227, 241, 340, 377.
'Anthologia,'
Johnson's translations from, ii. 560.
Antiquities, the study of, ii. 308.
Arbuthnot, i. 231.
Architecture, ii. 22.
Argyle, Archibald, Duke of, ii. 85.
Armorial bearings, i. 372.
Ascham, Roger, Johnson's life of, i. 253.
Ash, John, M. D. founder of the Eumelian club, ii. 567.
Ashbourne, singular anecdote of the mistress of an inn there, ii. 176.
Astle, Thomas, Esq. ii. 410.
—Reverend Mr. ii. 512.
Aston, Mrs. ii. 37, 258, 306, 360.
Avarice, ii. 245.
Auchinleck, Lord, (the Authour's father,) ii. 4▪ 426.
—Place of, ii. 100.
Authours, of deciding on their MSS. ii. 381; ii. 207, 244, 282.
—of their writing for profit, ii. 149.
—the respect due to them, ii. 239, 397.
B.
BACON, Lord Verulam, ii. 169.
Bagshaw, Reverend Thomas, i. 421.
—Letters from Johnson to,
ib.
ii. 536.
Balloons, ii. 540, 1, 2.
Baltick, The, Johnson's proposed expedition to, ii. 131.
Banks, Sir Joseph, epigram on his goat, i. 351.
—his 'Voyages,' i. 354.
Barber, Francis, i. 130, 190, 305; ii. 571, 2, 4.
—Johnson's Letters to him, i. 305, 335, 6.
Baretti, i. 184, 196; ii. 27, 100.
—his trial, i. 321.
—Johnson's Letters to him, i. 196, 201, 3.
Barnard, Dr. (Bishop of Killaloe) i. 454; ii. 92, 393, 8.
Barretier, J. P. his life by Johnson, i. 77, 81.
Barrington, Hon. Daines, ii. 241.
Barrow, Dr. his Sermons, ii. 391.
Barry, Dr. his 'System of Physick,' ii. 60.
Barry, Mr. his paintings, ii. 426.
Barter, Mr. i. 363.
Bath, Johnson's visit to, ii. 66.
Bathurst, Dr. i. 102, 136.
Baxter, Richard, ii. 457.
Bayle's Dictionary, i. 231.
Beattie, Dr. i. 349, 354, 388.
—Letter from Johnson to, ii. 321.
Beauclerk, Topham, Esq. i. 133, 444; ii. 221, 287, 291, 315, 334.
—his death, ii.
12.
Beggars, ii. 298, 330.
'Beggar's Opera,' i. 488, 9; ii. 245.
Bentham, Dr. ii. 25.
Bentley, Dr. English verses by, ii. 341.
Beresford, Mrs. and Miss, ii. 495.
Berwick, Duke, his 'Memoirs,' ii. 224.
Bewley, Mr. his enthusiastick veneration for Johnson, ii. 411.
'Bibliotheca Harlciana,'
i. 81.
'Biddulph, Sidney,' the novel, i. 210.
'Biographia Britannica,'
ii. 157, 489.
Biography, remarks on, i. 1—7; ii. 26, 85, 144, 357, 387, 553, 570.
Birch, Dr. i. 85.
—his letter to Johnson on his Dictionary, i. 158.
Birds, their migration, i. 414.
Bishops, ii. 492, 518.
Blackfriar's Bridge, i. 191.
Blacklock's poetry, i. 254.
Blackmore, i. 330.
—Johnson's life of, ii. 358.
Blagden, Dr. i. 510; ii. 344.
Blair, Reverend Dr. Hugh, his 'Sermons,' ii. 100, 6, 152, 178, 256, 387.
—Letter to the Authour on Pope's 'Essay on Man,' ii. 299.
—Reverend Robert, authour of 'The Grave,' ii. 68.
Blake, Admiral, his life by Johnson, i. 77.
Blan
y, Elizabeth, i. 9; ii. 552.
Blank verse, i. 342; ii. 349.
Blenheim Park, ii. 28.
Blue-stocking club, ii. 393.
Boerhaave, his life by Johnson, i. 77.
Boetius, i. 343.
Bolingbroke, Lord, his works, i. 145.
Bolton, Mr. of Birmingham, ii. 32.
Books and Booksellers, ii. 12, 162, 493.
Boothby, Miss, letter of Johnson to, ii. 360.
Boscawen, Hon.
251.
Bosvile, Godfrey, Esq. ii. 326.
Bosville, Mrs. i. 366.
Boswell (the authour of this work)
—introduced to Johnson, i. 211.
—his 'Account of Corsica,' i. 298, 303, 4, 6, 9, 314.
—elected of the Literary Club, i. 408.
—his 'Letter to the People of Scotland,' on Mr. Fox's India Bill, ii. 478, 480.
—For other matters see i. 257, 274, 283, 298, 329, 393; ii. 3, 276, 425, 556.
—Johnson's arguments in favour of his trying his fortune in London, ii. 536.
—Johnson's letters to him, i. 258, 273, 303, 9, 331, 348, 352, 387, 9, 424, 5, 6, 8, 430, 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 440, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 495, 6, 7, 8, 9, 515; ii. 1, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 66, 94, 8, 9, 106, 107, 120, 1, 7, 131, 177, 180, 2, 218, 274, 8, 281, 295, 6, 307, 312, 322, 8, 370, 412, 422, 4, 5, 6, 7, 431, 461, 471, 480, 2, 3, 536, 555, 6.
—Letters to Johnson from him, i. 348, 351, 388, 428, 436, 8, 443, 5, 6, 455, 496, 514; ii. 10, 94, 106, 116, 120, 4, 7, 130, 177, 8, 181, 3, 4, 5, 218, 272, 280, 295, 305, 8, 310, 321, 5.
Boswell, Mrs. i. 428, 430; ii. 181, 3, 309, 428.
—Letters of Johnson to, ii. 93, 126, 427.
—Dr. his character of Johnson, ii. 47.
—Mr. Thomas David, ii. 321, 579.
Boucher, Governour, ii. 381.
Boufflers, Mad. de, i. 513.
Braithwaite, Mr. ii. 493.
Bribery, i. 477.
Brocklesby, Dr. his kind attention to Johnson, ii. 439, 460, 481, 527, 570.
—Letters of Johnson to, ii. 462, 537, &
seq.
Brown, Mr. i. 13.
Browne, Sir Thomas, his life by Johnson, i. 169.
Brydone's Tour, ii. 267.
Buchan, Earl of, anecdote of, i. 370.
Buchanan, i. 250.
Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress,' i. 408.
Burke, Right Hon. Edmund, anecdotes of and remarks on, ii. 27, 90, 246, 339, 343, 491, 515, 552, 576.
—the authour introduced to him, i. 408.
Burke, his 'Essay on the Sublime,' &c. i. 319.
—his 'Letter on the Affairs of America,' ii. 165.
Burke, Mr. jun. ii. 453, 4.
Burman, his life by Johnson, i. 77.
Burnet's History, i. 392.
Burney, Dr. ii. 277.
—Johnson's letters to him, i. 159, 178, 9, 272; ii. 465, 543—5, 554.
—Anecdotes of Johnson related by him, i. 514; ii. 411.
Burney, Miss, Johnson's praise of her and her works, ii. 456, 491.
—her imitations of Johnson's style, ii. 564.
Burrowes, Reverend Robert, his remarks on and imitations of Johnson's style, ii. 564.
Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy,' ii. 23.
'Burton's books,' ii. 477.
Bute, Lord, i. 481, 2; ii. 40, 89, 406.
Butter, Dr. ii. 150, 570.
Byng, Admiral, his epitaph, i. 173.
Byng, Hon. John, his Letter to Mr. Malone, relative to Johnson's death, ii. 579.
C.
CALLIMACHUS, ii. 329.
Cambridge University, Johnson's visit to, i. 266.
Cameron, Dr. Archibald, i. 77.
Campbell, Hon. Archibald, i. 394; ii. 497.
—Dr. John, i. 226, 394; ii. 198.
—his 'Political Survey,' ii. 26.
—Dr. Thomas, i. 473, 5, 9.
—Mungo, ii. 166.
Camus Melchior,
i. 503.
Capel's Shakspeare, ii. 331.
Careless, Mrs. ii. 33.
'Careless Husband,' origin of a scene in that comedy, i. 94.
Carleton, Captain, his 'Memoirs,' ii. 524.
Carlisle, Earl of, his poems, ii. 3
7.
—his tragedy, ii. 470.
Carter, Mrs. i. 71; ii. 491.
Cator, John, Esq. Johnson's character of him—and his fine seat, ii. 513.
Cattle extraordinary, ii. 141.
Cave, Mr. Edward, his life by Johnson, i. 138, and see i. 372; ii. 245.
—Johnson's letters to him, i. 41, 50, 61, 2,
, 70, 1, 8
, 3.
Chamberlayne, Reverend Mr. ii. 498.
Chambers, Sir Robert, i. 432.
—Letter from Johnson to him, i. 149.
Chapone, Mrs. letter of Johnson to, ii. 470.
Charlemont, Earl of, ii. 376.
Charles I. i. 490,
—II. i. 474,
Johnson's opinion of.
Chastity, ii. 31, 569, and see Marriage.
Chatterton's poems, ii. 69.
Chesterfield, Lord, i. 99, 138, 391, 467; ii. 265, 289, 438, 524.
—his 'Letters,' i. 144; ii. 71.
—Johnson's severe letter to him, i. 141.
Cheyne's 'English Malady,' ii. 94.
Children, i. 14, 245, 514; ii. 58, 126.
Christian religion, evidence of, i. 246; ii. 166, 242.
Churchill's poetry, i. 227.
Chymistry, i. 494.
Cibber, Colley, i. 94, 217, 320, 423; ii. 85, 163, 468, and see George II.
—Theophilus, his 'Lives of the Poets,' ii. 59, 62.
Clarendon, Lord, continuation of his 'History,' ii. 12.
Clarke, Dr. his works, ii. 578.
Clarke, Richard, Esq. ii. 478.
'Cleone,' Dodsley's, ii. 339.
'Cleonice,' Hoole's, i. 442.
Clergy The, i. 368, 9, 409, 410, &
seq.
ii. 133, 235, 240, 373, 4, 381.
—Advice to a young clergyman, ii. 323.
Clerk, Sir Philip Jennings, ii. 377.
Clive, Lord, ii. 298.
Clive, Mrs. the actress, ii. 332, 468.
Club, Essex-Head, established by Johnson, ii. 475, 6, 8.
Coachmakers'-hall debating society, ii. 384, 5.
Cobb, Mrs. ii. 37, 306.
Cock-lane ghost, i. 220; ii. 212.
Collections in writing, their use, i. 320.
Collins, the poet, i. 207.
Colman, George, Esq. i. 461; ii. 100, 334.
—his 'Letter from Lexiphanes,' ii. 562.
Compliments, ii. 197.
Condescension, ii. 44.
Congé d' Elire,
ii. 518.
Congreve, his works, i. 317, 322.
Congreve, Reverend Mr. i. 13; ii. 33.
'Connoisseur,' The, i. 228.
O'Conor, Charles, Esq. Johnson's letters to, on his 'Account of Ireland,' i. 177; ii. 113.
Controversial writings, ii. 24, 49.
Convents, i. 277.
Conversation, ii. 25, 28, 41, 73, 164, 256, 396, 43
.
Cook, Capt. ii. 47.
Convocation The▪ of the Clergy, i. 253; ii. 492.
Coriat Tom▪ i. 370.
Cork, Earl of, ii. 163.
Corsican language, i. 315, 16.
Courtenay, John, Esq. extracts from his poem on Johnson's character, i. 26, 121, 173, 187, 427; ii. 559.
Cowley, Johnson's life of, ii. 346.
Cowper, Gilbert, i. 344.
Crabbe, Reverend Mr. his 'Village,' ii. 438.
Croft, Reverend Herbert, ii. 505, 510.
—his 'Life of Young,' ii. 361.
Cromwell, Oliver, Johnson's design of writing his life, ii. 463.
Crousaz, i. 71, 84.
Cruikshank, Mr. letter of Johnson to, ii. 547.
Cullen, Dr. consulted on Johnson's illness, ii. 482.
Cumberland, Richard, Esq. ii. 365, 560.
D.
DALRYMPLE, Sir John, his 'Memoirs,' i. 391.
Davies, Mr. Thomas, character and anecdotes of, i. 210, 211, 305, 7, 321, 429, 476, 9; ii. 63, 186, 201, 460.
—Johnson's kind letters to, ii. 460, 548.
—his 'Memoirs of Garrick,' ii. 322.
Deane's 'Future Life of Brutes,' i. 301.
Death, reflections on, i. 320, 9; ii. 229, 239, 456, and see Johnson.
Dedications and Prefaces by Johnson, and remarks on, i. 85, 94, 9, 138, 174, 194, 8, 9, 208, 272, 3, 285, 297, 389, 399; ii. 109, 114, 559.
Defoe, Daniel, ii. 212.
Delaney's 'Observations on Swift,' ii. 202.
Dempster, George, Esq. i. 236, 451.
Dennis, John, ii. 64.
Derby, some particulars as to, ii. 150.
Derrick, i. 213, 247, 8; ii. 460.
Desmoulins, Mrs. ii. 186.
Devaynes, Mr. ii. 489.
Devil, his influence upon the souls of men, ii. 500.
Devonshire, Duke of, ii. 165; and Duchess, ii. 541.
Dick, Sir Alexander, his letters to and concerning Johnson, ii. 104, 125, 480.
'Dictionary of the English Language,' Johnson's, i. 98, 9, 101, &c. 358, 389; ii. 301, 330.
—First published, i. 162.
—Epitome of, i. 168.
—Garrick's Epigram on, i. 166.
Dilly, Messieurs, ii. 80, 111, 400, 9.
—letters of Johnson to, ii. 123, 477.
Dodd, Reverend Dr. ii. 118, 19, 144, 152, 201, 214, 221.
—Johnson's assistance to him, ii. 119, 124, 134, 512.
Dodsley, Robert, ii. 26, 62, 339.
Dominicetti, i. 324.
Dossie, Mr. ii. 334.
Douglas, Dr. (Bishop of Carlisle,) i. 125; ii. 492.
Douglas cause, i. 300, 400, 3; ii. 183.
Drake, Admiral, his life by Johnson, i. 77, 8.
Draughts, the game of, i. 174.
Dreams, ii. 331.
Drummond, Mr. William, Johnson's letters to▪ i. 286, 8, 9.
—Dr. ii. 95.
Drunkenness.—See Wine.
Dryden, Johnson's life of, ii. 85, 350.
Duelling, i. 372, 400; ii. 450.
Du Halde's 'Account of China,' i. 302.
Dunbar, Dr. ii. 323.
Duncombe, Mr. ii. 240.
Dundas, Right Hon. Henry, ii. 180.
Dunning, Mr. his high compliment to Johnson, ii. 197.
Dyer's 'Fleece,' ii. 29.
Dyer, Mr. ii. 334.
E.
ECCLES, Reverend Mr. i. 195.
Edinburgh Royal Society Transactions, absurd criticism on Johnson in, ii. 343.
Education, i. 245, 514; ii. 21, 50, 154. 189, 269, 289, 512.
Edwards, Reverend Dr. letter of Johnson to, ii. 277.
—Mr. (Johnson's fellow collegian) anecdotes of, ii. 234, 382.
Eglintoune, Alexander, Earl of, i. 307; ii. 166.
Egotism, ii. 246, 313.
Elibank, Lord, ii. 56.
Eliot, Mr. of Port-Eliot, (now Lord,) ii. 376.
—his politeness to Johnson, ii. 524.
Ellis, Mr. John, anecdotes of, ii. 54.
Elphinstone, his edition of 'The Rambler,' i. 113.
—Letters from Johnson to him, i. 114, 115.
Elwal, the enthusiast, i. 363.
Emigration, ii. 191.
Entails, ii. 3, &
seq.
9, 16, 18.
—Johnson's letters on, ii. 4, 7.
Epilogue to 'The Distrest Mother,' i. 22▪
Episcopacy, ii. 280, 492, 518.
Epitaphs, i. 514; ii. 450, 566.
Erskine, Hon. Thomas, i. 369, 370.
Eumelian club, ii. 567.
Exhibition of paintings, i. 197.
F.
FABLE, sketch of one by Johnson, i. 404.
Falconer, Reverend Mr. ii. 280.
Falkland's islands, i. 345.
Fame, i. 245; ii. 210, 258, 491.
Farmer, Reverend Dr. letters from Johnson to, i. 334; ii. 317.
Favours, unreasonable, i. 200.
Females, of their succession to land, ii. 3, 9, 39.
Fergusson, Sir Adam, i. 367.
Fergusson, the astronomer, i. 324.
Feudal system, i. 371, 387, 423; ii. 3, &c. 15, 209, 210.
Fielding's works, i. 299, 369; ii. 66.
Fingal.—See Ossian.
Fitzherbert, Mr. ii. 141.
Flatman's poems, ii. 59.
Flint, Bet, anecdotes of, ii. 390.
Flood, Right Hon. Henry, his epitaph on Johnson, ii. 582.
Floyer, Sir John, anecdotes of, ii. 485.
Foote, Samuel, anecdotes and character of, i. 321, 2, 3, 357; ii. 19, 83, 4, 163, 4, 456, 491.
Forbes, Sir William, ii. 176.
Ford, Parson, ii. 263.
Fox, Right Hon. C. J. ii. 212, 433, 502.
France, Johnson's visit to, i. 498, 9.
—his Journal there, i. 501, &
seq.
Francis's Horace, ii. 267.
Franklin, Rev. Dr. his 'Demonax,' ii. 344.
French language, Johnson's knowledge of, i. 314, 512.
French, their manners and writings, i. 342; ii. 265, 464.
Frederick III. his life by Johnson, i. 169.
Friends and Friendship, i. 84, 165, 373; ii. 195, 226, 289.
—departed, i. 115; ii. 132, 239, 312, 325.
Future state of man, ii. 173, 225, 450.
G.
GAMING, i. 370; ii. 55.
'Ganganelli's Letters,' ii. 224.
Gardiner, Mrs. ii. 469.
Garrick, David, anecdotes of, i. 44, 8, 90, 8, 166, 262, 314, 403; ii. 35, 207, 8, 211, 380, 456.
—his Shakspeare-Jubilee, i. 308.
—Johnson's opinion of him, i. 215, 320, 380, 401, 464; ii. 21, 61, 70, 84, 163, 210, 289, 332, 7, 468.
—his death, ii. 280.
Garrick, Peter, i. 457; ii. 34, 7, 306.
—Mrs. ii. 386.
Gastrel, Mrs. ii. 39, 40, 306.
General warrants, i. 310.
Gentility, i. 268, 474.
Gentleman, Mr. Francis, i. 208.
Gentleman's Magazine, i. 56, &c.
King George I. i. 474.
—II. i. 77, 8, 94, 474.
—III. his accession and character, i. 204; ii. 319.
—Johnson's interview with, i. 291.
Ghosts, i. 219, 363, 372; ii. 190, 231, 294, 384.
—some stories as to, i. 371, 4; ii. 231, 263.
Gibbon, Edward, Esq. i. 478, 488; ii. 372.
—his imitation of Johnson's style, ii. 563.
Gillespie, Dr. consulted on Johnson's illness, ii. 480.
Glow-worm, Johnson's fable of, i. 404.
Gluttony, i. 255.
Goldsmith, Dr. Oliver, character of, i. 223, &
seq.
—anecdotes of, i. 225, 230, 296, 316, 374, 390, 4, 8, 9, 418, 420, 1, 2; ii. 63, 244, 283, 397, 438.
—his death, i. 436.
—Johnson's epitaphs on him, ii. 91, 3.
—his
bon mots
on Johnson, i. 307, 404, 7; ii. 490.
—Johnson's opinion of him and his works, i. 221, 275, 6, 297, 9, 377, 382, 390, 3, 4, 403, 5, 6, 437, 484; ii. 62, 153, 200, 3, 214, 293, 341.
Gordon, Lord George, ii. 317, 380.
Gower, Earl, his letter to Swift, i. 67.
Graham, Lord, ii. 287, 394.
Grainger, Dr. his 'Sugar Cane,' ii. 29.
—his 'Ode on Solitude,' ii. 171.
Grammar-school, Johnson's plan of, i. 46.
Granger, Reverend Mr. his 'Biograpical Dictionary,' ii. 97.
Granville, Lord, anecdote of, ii. 335.
Gray's poetry, i. 218, 466, 471; ii. 59, 63, 335, 425.
Green, Mr. of Lichfield, his museum, ii. 36, 306.
—Letter from Johnson to him, ii. 566.
Greenwich hospital, i. 250.
Greville, Richard Fulke, Esq. his 'Maxims,' &c. ii. 507.
Grey, Dr. i. 510.
Grief, ii. 132.
Grierson, Mr. i. 336.
De Groot, a descendant of Grotius, ii. 123.
Guthrie, William, i. 58, 300.
Gwyn, Mr. the architect, ii. 21.
H.
HABEAS CORPUS, i. 311.
Hackman, Reverend Mr. ii. 287.
Hailes, Lord, his and Johnson's opinion of each other, i. 235, 245.
—his 'Annals of Scotland,' i. 435, 7, 8, 9, 445, 470, 496, 7, 8, 9, 516; ii. 1, 10, 74, 119, 272, 281, 302.
—his opinion on entails, ii. 7.
Hale, Lord Chief Justice, anecdote of, ii. 511.
Hales, venerable John, his works, ii. 514.
Hall, General, his politeness to Johnson at Warley camp, ii. 274.
Hamilton, Rt. Hon. William Gerard, his kind offers to Johnson, ii. 469.
—Letters of Johnson to, ii. 469, 546.
Hamilton's poems, ii. 142.
Hanway, Mr. Jonas, i. 172, 341.
Happiness, i. 276: ii. 71, 225.—See Life.
Harleian miscellany, i. 94.
Harris, James, Esq. ii. 199, 207.
Harte's 'History of Gustavus,' i. 339; ii. 376.
Harvey, Hon. Thomas, i. 291.
Harvey, Henry, i. 50.
Hastie.—See Schoolmaster.
Hastings, Warren, Esq. character of, ii. 365.
—Letter from him to the authour, ii. 366.
—Letters of Johnson to, ii. 367, 9, 370.
Hawkesbury, Lord, Johnson's letter to, relative to Dr. Dodd, ii. 138.
Hawkesworth, Dr. i. 102.
—his 'Voyages,' i. 414.
Hawkins, Sir John, remarks on his life of Johnson, i. 2, 102.
—circumstances as to Johnson related by him contradicted or explained, i. 64, 74, 87, 103, 110, 112, 126, 7, 130, 159, 170, 184, 225, 262, 290, 7; ii. 521, 551, 567, 570, 5.
—quits the Literary Club, i. 262.
Hawkins, Mr. i. 13.
Hay, Lord Charles, ii. 48, 341.
Heberden, Dr. his kind attendance on Johnson, ii. 460, 481, 570.
Hebrides, Johnson's wish to visit, i. 244, 252, 300, 349, 354, 387, 404, 424.
—Johnson's tour to them, i. 427.
—Johnson's published 'Account of his Journey,' i. 436, 9, 441, 3, 450, 3, 4, 7, 486; ii. 104, 157, 233, 247.
Hector, Mr. i. 17; ii. 30, 1, 412, 488, 553.
—Letters from Johnson to, ii. 420, 1, 554.
Heely, Mr. and Mrs. i. 289; ii. 550.
Henderson▪ Mr. John, ii. 505.
'Hermippus Redivivus,'
Campbell's, i. 226.
Highwaymen, ii. 196.
Hill, Dr. his works, i. 294.
History and Historians, reflections on, i. 231, 314, 381, 397, 406, 487; ii. 51, 302.
Hogarth, i. 77.
Hollis, Mr. Thomas, ii. 387.
Home, Mr. John, his parody on Derrick, i. 248.
—his proposed history of the rising in 1745, i. 149.
Homer, Johnson's translations from, i. 18.
—critiques on the merits of that poet, ii. 169, 251, 3.
Hoole, John, Esq. his 'Tasso,' i. 208.
—his 'Cleonice,' i. 442.
—Letters of Johnson to him, 542, 3.
Hoole, John, Esq. his attention to Johnson during his last illness, ii. 575.
Hope, Dr. consulted on Johnson's illness, ii. 482.
Horace, Johnson's translations from, i. 19.
—criticism on a passage in that Latin poet, ii. 86.
Horne, Reverend Dr. ii. 25, 583.
Horne Tooke, Mr. ii. 266.
Hospitality, ii. 338, 455.
Houghton gallery, ii. 525.
House of Commons, ii. 187, 192, 303, 4, 373, 391, 504.
—Peers, ii. 261.
Huggins, Mr. ii. 332.
Hume, David, his style, i. 238.
—his scepticism, i. 241, 276; ii. 24, 143.
—his 'Life,' ii. 118.
Humphry, Ozias, Esq. antiquity of his family, and letters of Johnson to, ii. 486, 7.
Hunter, Mr. i. 13, 14.
Hurd, Dr. (Bishop of Worcester,) ii. 86, 500.
Hussey, Reverend Mr. John, i. 279.
—Dr. Thomas, ii.
I. and J.
JAMES, Dr. his 'Medical Dictionary,' i. 85; ii. 55.
—his death, ii. 4
, and see ii. 59.
'Idler,' Johnson's, i. 181, 3, 7.
Jennyns, Soame, Esq. his 'Origin of Evil,' i. 173.
—his 'Evidence of the Christian Religion,' ii. 226.
India, of the government in, ii. 451.
Insidelity, i. 315, 484; ii. 72, 118, 304, 498▪
Influenza▪ ii. 1.
Inns, ii. 28.
Inquisition, i. 254.
Johnson, Michael, (father of Dr. Johnson,) anecdotes of, i. 8, &
seq.
—His death, i. 3
.
JOHNSON, DR. SAMUEL,
his birth, i. 8.
—touched by Queen Anne for the evil, i. 12.
—goes to school at Lichfield, i. 13.—Stourbridge, 16.
—enters at Pembroke College, Oxon, i. 24.
—leaves College, i. 34.
—becomes usher to Market-Bosworth school, i. 37.
—removes to Birmingham, i. 38.
—marries Mrs. Porter, i. 44.
—opens an academy at Edial,
ib.
—goes to London, (with Garrick,) i. 48.
—a writer in 'The Gentleman's Magazine,' i. 56, &c.
—endeavours to obtain the degree of A. M. i. 67.
—his distrest circumstances and filial piety, i. 86, 88.
—loses his wife, 127—his grief on that occasion,
ib.
505; ii. 536, 566.—Composes her funeral sermon, i. 131.
—visits Oxford in 1754, i. 146; and again i. 298, 308; ii. 21, 495, 553.
—obtains his degree of A. M. from that University, i. 150, 2, 3.—His letters on that occurrence, i. 150, 4, 5.—The diploma, i. 155.
—declines taking Holy Orders, i. 176.
—loses his mother, i. 184.
—obtains a pension of 300l. a year, i. 204, &
seq.
—visits Cambridge, i. 266.
—created LL. D. by Trinity College, Dublin, i. 272.
—by Oxford University, i. 468, 9.
—his interview with The King, i. 291.
—appointed Professor of Ancient Literature in The Royal Academy, i. 368.
—endeavour to get him into parliament, i. 346, &
seq.
—visits the Hebrides, i. 426.—See Hebrides.
—Wales, i. 439.
—France, i. 498, 9.—His account -of it, i. 511, 512.
—his various places of residence, ii 302.
—his long illness and gradual decline, ii. 412▪ &c.—His various disorders, ii. 458, 462,
, 476, 9, 482, 4, &
seq.
—Medical opinions on his case, ii. 480, 1, 2.
—his proposed tour to Italy for his health, ii. 520, 5, 6, 534.
—progress of his dissolution, ii. 567, to the end.
JOHNSON, his Will and Codicil, ii. 572.—Remarks on them, ii. 574.
—his MS. account of his own life, ii. 575.
—his death, ii. 579.—His funeral, 581.
His Character and Manners.
—his peculiarities of person and manner, i. 12, 76, 264, &
seq.
465, 8; ii. 371.
—general traits of his character and mode of living, i. 27, 49▪ 50, 251, 338, &
seq.
424, 441, 9, 483; ii. 101, 167, 171, 238, 252, 5, 336, 340, 351, 360, 395, 463, 4, 5. 516, 19, 560, 7, 8.
—his early, habitual, and systematick piety, i. 9, 29, 257, 263, 296, 310, 333, 349, 379, 393, 441, 481, 4; ii. 56, 96, 101, 232, 240, 285, 373, 382, 411, 457, 463, 472, 487, 8, 550, 4, 569, 577, 8.
—his superstition, i. 264, 503.
—his aweful dread of death, i. 320, 9, 341, 449; ii. 143, 6, 229, 479, 487, 492, 3, 505, 567.
—his general tenderness of nature, humanity, and affability, i. 36, 222, 244▪ 289, 296, 307, 330, 451; ii. 35, 90, 122, 148, 186, 256, 473, 488, 592, 5, 517, 520, 550.
—his warm and sometimes violent manner, i. 324, 340, &c. ii. 56, 227, 241, 255, 260, 288, 396, 436, 490, 525.
—his occasional jocularity, i. 423, 486, 494; ii. 30, 142, 7, 343, 377,
—his inviolable regard to truth, i. 237, 414; ii. 19, 189, 190, 8, 229, 353, 472.
—his respect for birth and family, i. 243, 356, 371, 423, 466; ii. 125, 266, 397.
—his love of good eating, i. 255; ii. 83, 164, 223, 383.
—his
political character
and opinions, i. 170, 230, 4, 253, 304, 332, 7, 9, 344, 5, 359, 367, 382, 396, 8, 461, 474, 8, 481, 9; ii. 67, 145, 175, 222, 7, 241, 8, 267, 373, 7, 388, 399, 415, 432, 5, 6, 8, 454, 483, 4.
—and pamphlets, i. 74, 332, 345, 353, 440, 458, 460, 471.—[For his other works see their several titles.]
—catalogue of works proposed to be executed by him, ii. 557.
—stories to his prejudice refuted, ii. 170, 434, (and see
Hawkins
and
P
ozzi).
—various portraits of him, ii. 581.
—his general character by the Authour, ii. 582.
'Johnsoniana,' collection so called, ii. 18.
Jones, Miss, i. 178.
Jorden, Mr. i. 24. 5.
Journal or diary of life, its utility, i. 235, 395; ii. 155▪ 189, 270, 440.
Ireland and the Irish, i. 177, 339, 419, 454, ii. 305.
'Irene,' Johnson's tragedy of, i. 47, 50, 1, 2, 3, 4, 80.—Acted, i. 105.
Islam, a description of, ii. 165.
Judges, i. 475.
Junius, i. 345; ii. 283.
Juries, ii. 52.
K.
KAMES, Lord, i. 384, 6.
—his works, i. 319; ii. 257, 265.
Kelly, Hugh, Johnson's prologue to his
Word to the Wise,' ii. 114.
Kemble, J. P. Esq. ii. 467.
Ken, Bishop, anecdotes of, ii. 154.
Kennedy, Reverend Dr. his 'Astronomical Chronology,' i. 198, 9.
—M. D. a tragedy by, ii. 195.
Kennicot, Mrs. ii. 496, 8.
Kenrick, Dr. i. 271, 305.
Killingley, M. her curious address, ii. 176.
King, Charles, I. and II.—George I. II. and III. and William III.—See under their respective initials.
Kings, their situation, i. 230, 9, 240.
Kneller, Sir Godfrey, anecdote of, ii. 194.
Knowledge, i. 367, 378, 396, 483, 490; ii. 62, 453.
Knowles, Mrs. ii. 225.
Knox, Mr. the traveller, i. 452, 3.
—Reverend Vicesimus, ii. 522, 3.
—his imitations of Johnson's style, ii. 565.
L.
LANDLORDS and Tenants, i. 326; ii. 202, 432.
Langton, Bennet, Esq. i. 133, 260, 444; ii. 149, 219, 273, 4, 493, 4, 576.
—Johnson's letters to him, i. 352; ii. 122, 276, 409, 419, 466, 484, 5, 537, 544.
—communications from, as to Johnson, ii. 329.
—Miss Jane, letter of Johnson to, ii. 488.
Languages, i. 260, 287, 315, 16, 358; ii. 193, 514.
Lansdowne, Marquis of, ii. 495.
Latin, Johnson's accurate knowledge of, i. 513.
Lauder, his forgery against Milton, i. 125—128.
Law, Johnson's intention of studying, i. 267.
—his opinions as to the study and practice of, i. 277, 282, 298, 393, 6; ii. 17, 160, 473, 494, 510.
—Johnson's arguments on several cases, viz.
—On Schoolmasters and their Duty, i. 375, 7.
—Vicious Intromission, i. 382.
—Rights of Lay Patrons, i. 410.
—Dr. Memis's Case, i. 491.
—Stirsing Corporation's Case, i. 492.
—Entails, ii. 4, 7, 9.
—Liberty of the Pulpit, ii. 74, & see 97.
—Registration of Deeds, ii. 372.
—the Case of the Procurators of Edinburgh, ii. 407.
Law, Archdeacon, (now Bishop of Killala,) ii. 309.
Law's 'Serious Call,' i. 341.
Lawrence, Dr. ii. 418.
—Letters to, i. 447; ii. 311.
Lea, Reverend Mr. i. 16.
Learning, i. 248, 378; ii. 335.
Lectures, their inutility, i. 276; ii 383.
Lee, Arthur, Esq. ii. 82.
Lenox, Mrs. i. 138, 188, 442.
Lever, Sir Ashton, his Museum, ii. 525.
Levett, Mr. Robert, i. 131, 201; his death, ii. 413.—Johnson's lines on him, ii. 414.
Lewis, F. i. 123.
—Mr. (usher of Westminster-school) his lines to Pope, ii. 509.
Lexiphanes, i. 297.
Libels on the dead, ii: 51.—See Topham's Case.
Liberty, political, i. 304; ii. 287.
Liberty and necessity of the will, ii. 227, 370, 522.
Lichfield, remarks on, ii. 34, 5.
—Johnson's last visit to, and the marks of respect paid him by the Corporation, ii. 551.
Liddel, Sir Henry, his spirited expedition to Lapland, i. 366.
Life, reflections on, i. 342, 5, 400, 572; ii. 71, 4, 151, 173, 490, 506, 552.
Literary Club, i. 261, 2, 461; ii. 116, 580.
Literary frauds, i. 137.—Instances of, i. 195.
Literary Magazine, i. 169.
Literary Property, i. 237, 8, 421, 431, 476; ii. 559.
'Lives of the English Poets,' Johnson's, ii. 110, 11, 117, 133, 307.
—Published, ii. 181, 279, 344, 425, 8.
—Some account of the work, and a critique on its merits, ii. 344—365.
Lloyd, Mr. (the Quaker) ii. 31.
Lobo's Abyssinia, i. 38; ii. 47.
Lock, Mr. of Norbury Park, ii. 349.
Lofft, Capel, Esq. ii. 492.
London, its immensity, i. 228, 9, 312, 341, 483.
—its superiority over the country, i. 251, 261, 311, 339,; ii. 284.
—Johnson's and the authour's love of, i. 251, 2, 433, 472; ii. 159, 205, 275, 542, 553.
'London,' Johnson's poem of, i. 59, 60, 4, 5.
'London Chronicle,' i. 175.
Longley, Mr. of Rochester, ii. 333.
Lort, Reverend Dr. ii. 501.
Lovat, Lord, anecdotes of and epigram on, i. 97.
Love, i. 341, 485; ii. 33, 258.—See Marriage.
Loughborough, Lord, his talents and great good fortune, i. 209.
Loyalty, ii. 436.
Lucan, Lord, ii. 380; and Lady, ii. 520.
"Luke's iron crown."
—See Zeck.
Lumisdaine, Andrew, Esq. i. 511.
Luton-Hoe, Lord Bute's seat at, ii. 406.
Luxury and Extravagance, i. 367, 395, ii. 22, 72, 221, 8, 242, 263.
Lydiat, i. 104.
Lyttelton, George Lord, his works, i. 294, 343; ii. 60.
—his life by Johnson, ii. 360, 505.
—Thomas Lord, his vision, ii. 505.
M.
MACAULAY, Mrs.—Johnson's opinion of her and her works, i. 243, 396; ii. 89, 164.
Macaulay's account of St. Kilda, i. 300.
Macbean, Mr. ii. 57, 327.
—his Dictionary of Geography, 389.
'Macbeth,' Johnson's 'Observations on,' published, i. 95.
Maccaronick verses, ii. 222.
Macclesfield, Lady, the poet Savage's reputed mother, i. 90—94.
Mac Donald, Sir James, i. 244.
—Sir Alexander, i. 359.
Macklin, the comedian, i. 209.
Macla
rin, Mr. i. 486.
Maclean, Sir Allan, ii. 103, 124.
Maclean, Mr. Alexander, i. 514.
Macpherson, James, Esq. i. 444, 6, 8.—And see Ossian.
—Johnson's letter to him, i. 449.
Macquarry, ii. 124, 130.
Macqueen, Mr. Donald, i. 496.
Madden, Dr. his 'Boulter's Monument,' i. 175.
Madness, i. 214; ii. 158.
Mahogany, a liquor so called, ii. 376.
Mallet, David, i. 344, 405; ii. 289, 453.
—his 'Life of Bacon,' ii. 169.
Malone, Edmond, Esq. ii. 246, 416.
—Letters of Johnson to, ii. 416.
'Man of Feeling,' (Novel,) i. 195.
Manning, Mr. (the compositor,) ii. 517.
Mansfield, Lord, i. 360, 461; ii. 211, 440.
Manucci, Count, ii. 96.
Maps, i. 482.
Marchmont, Earl of, i. 361; ii. 259, 292, 355.
Marlborough, Duchess of, i. 81; ii. 377.
'Marmor Norfolciense,'
i. 74.
Marriage, i. 203, 325, 331, 356, 364; ii. 31, 33, 41, 5, 56, 284, 302, 312, 409.
—second, i. 312, 344.
—'Matrimonial Thought,' a song, i.
32.
Martinelli, Signor, his History of England, i. 397.
Mary, Queen of Scots, i. 192, 429, 437, 445.
Mason, Reverend Mr. William, i. 4, 5, 471; ii. 59, 229, 514.
Masquerades, i. 389.
Mattaire, ii. 329.
Maxwell, Reverend Dr. his communications as to Johnson, i. 336, &c.
Mayo, Reverend Dr. i. 417, 18.
Melancholy, reflections on, i. 28, 186; ii. 11, 22, 46, 94, 101, 132, 158, 168, 313.
Melancthon, ii. 118, 120.
Melmoth, Mr. his 'Letters,' ii. 489.
Memis, Dr. i. 443, 6, 8, 491; ii. 103.
Metaphysicks, i. 316, 327.
Metcalfe, Philip, Esq. ii. 429.
Methodists, i. 249, 462.
Mickle, Mr. ii. 509.
—his 'Lusiad,' ii. 473.
Millar, Andrew, anecdote of, i. 159.
Miller, Lady, i. 472.
Milne, Mr. the architect, defended, i. 191.
Milton, his grand-daughter, i. 125.
—Johnson's life of, ii. 348.
Mimickry, i. 357.
Miracles, i. 241
'Mirror The,' periodical paper presented to Johnson by its authours, ii. 564.
'Modern Characters from Shakspeare,' ii. 206.
Monasteries, i. 198; ii. 20.
Monboddo, Lord, and his works, i. 311, 353, 396, 422, 497; ii. 405, 489.
Monckton, Hon. Miss, Johnson's pleasantry to, ii. 394; the authour's verses to,
ib.
Monro, Dr. his opinion on Johnson's illness, ii. 482.
Montagu, Mrs. her 'Essay on Shakspeare,' i. 318.
—Anecdotes of▪ ii. 198, 372, 491.
Montrose (late) Duke of, anecdote of, ii. 196.
Monuments in St. Paul's church, i. 408.
More, Miss Hannah, ii. 491.
Morris, Miss, Johnson's last words spoken to her, ii. 579.
Mounsey, Dr. his character, i. 306.
Mountstuart, Lord, i. 281; ii. 17, 44, 98, 305, 406.
Mudge, Reverend Dr. Zachary, i. 206; ii. 375, 387.
—Dr. ii. 466.
Murphy, Arthur, Esq. i. 194, 344:
—his poetical Epistle to Johnson, i. 193.
Murray, Mr. Solicitor-General of Scotland, ii. 48.
Musick, i. 400, 515; ii. 172, 340.
Myddelton, Colonel, his urn and inscription in honour of Johnson, ii. 581.
N.
NARES, Reverend Mr. John, his 'Elements of Orthoepy,' and imitations of Johnson's style, ii. 564.
National debt, i. 344.
Natural affection, i. 325.
Negroes, ii. 94, 95. 103, 124, 174, 9, 182.
Newhaven, Lord, ii. 303.
Newton, Sir Isaac, eloquent praise of him by Johnson, i. 342.
—Dr. Thomas, (late Bishop of Bristol,) ii. 497.
Nichols, Dr. ii. 150.
—Mr. John, ii. 430, 549.
Nicoll, Mr. George, letter of Johnson to, ii. 547.
Nollekens, Mr. ii. 271.
Nonjurors, i. 463▪ 498.
Nowell, Reverend Dr. ii. 503, 4.
, the motto on Johnson's watch, i. 303;—and see 'Corrections, &c.'
O.
ODE to Friendship, by Johnson, i. 84.
Oglethorpe, General, anecdotes of, i. 65, 372, 3, 479, 480; ii. 73, 221, 435, 6.
Oldfield, Dr. anecdote of, ii. 73.
Oldham's imitation of Juvenal, i. 59.
Oldys's part in Harleian miscellany, i. 94.
Omai, ii. 48.
Oratory, i. 391, 473; ii. 390, 515.
Orford, Lord, his gallery of pictures, ii. 525.
Orme, Mr. i. 450; ii. 223.
—Captain, ii. 381.
Orrery, Lord, i. 100, 345; ii. 240, 438.
—his life of Swift, ii. 202.
Osborn, Francis, his works, i. 380.
Osborne, the bookseller, anecdote of, i. 81.
Ossian's Poems, their claims to authenticity and merit discussed, i. 213, 343, 444, 6, 7, 450, 5, 6, 7, 461, 477, 497; ii. 70, 474.
Ostentation, i. 254, 303; ii. 68, 331.
'Othello,' ii. 64.
P.
PALMERSTON, Lord, ii. 461, 520.
Pamphlets, ii. 243.
Paoli, General, i. 310, 314, 399; ii. 61, 144, 247, 523.
Paradise, John, Esq. letter of Johnson to, ii. 547.
Parish Clerks, ii. 405.
Parker, Sackville, ii. 509.
Parnell, Dr.—Goldsmith's life of, i. 365.
—Johnson's life of, ii. 357;—his epitaph on, ii. 357.
—a disputed passage in his poems, ii. 184, 293.
Parr, Reverend Dr. ii. 336, 582.
Paterson, Mr. Samuel and his Son, ii. 486, 7; and see 458.
Patriotism, i. 478.
Pearce, Dr. Zachary, i. 163; ii. 113.
Peers, House of, ii. 261.
Peers of Scotland, their undue influence, ii. 471, 2.
Pembroke College, Oxford, eminent men educated there, i. 33.
Pembroke, Lord, i. 465.
Pendergrast, strange anecdote of, i. 374.
Pennant's 'Tour,' ii. 215.
Pension, Johnson's, i. 204, &
seq.
233.
Percy, Dr. (Bishop of Dromore,) i. 265; ii. 214.
—his 'Reliques of Ancient Poetry,' i. 272.
—Letters on the difference between Johnson and him, ii. 218.
Perkins, Mr. ii. 377, 9.
Peterborough, Lord, ii. 524.
Petitions, popular, i. 319.
Philips, the musician, Johnson's epitaph on, i. 78.
—Miss, (the singer,) ii. 458.
Philosophy, ii. 235.
Pig, the learned, ii. 552.
Piozzi, Mrs. i. 269; ii. 15, 378, 429, 492, 562.
Piczzi, Mrs. anecdotes related by her of Johnson refuted or explained, i. 11, 29, 43, 225, 263, 378, 381, 479; ii. 515, 528, 529—533.
—Letter from her to Johnson, ii. 314.
—from Johnson to her, ii. 315, 459.
—Burlesque Ode to her, ii. 562.
Pitt, Right Hon. William, his letter to the Authour on his exertions for Government, ii. 480.
Pity, i. 237.
Plant
, Mr. i. 509.
Planting trees, ii. 105, 175.
Poetry, reflections on, i. 480; ii. 63, 146, 207, 347.
—of Dr. Johnson, while young, i. 11, 17, &
seq.
Poets, Johnson's Lives of—See Lives.
Politian's poems, Johnson's projected translation of, i. 41.
Pope, i. 75, 316, 471, 9; ii. 262, 292, 354, 509.
—his 'Messiah' translated into Latin by Johnson, i. 25.
—his 'Homer,' ii. 207, 300.
—his 'Universal Prayer,' ii. 261.
—his 'Essay on Man,' ii. 299.
—his life by Johnson, ii. 352.
Porter▪ Mrs. (afterward Johnson's wife,) i. 43, 46.
—Mrs. Lucy, ii. 34, 306;—Johnson's lines to, i. 42.
—Johnson's letters to, i. 500, 1; ii. 293, 382, 416, 417, 461, 477, 9, 566.
—Mrs. (the actress,) ii. 468.
Portmore, Lord, ii. 485.
Prayer, ii. 502.
Predestination, i. 327; ii. 46.
Presentiment, a remarkable story concerning, i. 374.
Priestley, Dr.—Johnson's opinion of, i. 341; ii. 464, 5.
Pringle, Sir John, ii. 80.
Printing, ii. 62.
—ancient, i. 509.
Prior's poetry, i. 313; ii. 168, 296.
Pritchard, Mrs. i. 478; ii. 468.
Procurators of Edinburgh, their case, ii. 406, &c.
'The Project,' a poem, ii. 243.
Pronunciation, i. 360, 2; ii. 171.
Prostitution, i. 248; ii. 52.
Providence, a particular; sentiments as to, ii. 489.
Prussia, King of, his writings, i. 236.
Publick amusements, i. 367.
Puns, i. 391, 409.
Q.
QUAKERS, ii. 32, 450.
—of their women preaching, i. 252.
Queensberry, Duke of, (late,) i. 489.
Quintillian, ii. 345.
R.
RACKSTROW, Johnson's Colonel in the Trainbands, ii. 516.
'Rambler,' Johnson's, published, i. 108, 9, 110, 113.
—remarks on, i. 123; ii. 65, 423.
Ramsay, Allan, Esq. ii. 203, 251, 287, 303.
Rank, its importance in society, i. 240, 3, 356, 467.
'Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia,' Johnson's, i. 41, 184, 5, 235; ii. 242, 400.
Reading, the manner and effect of, i. 24, 400, 483; ii. 65, 169, 223, 252, 340, 453, 510, 12.
Rein-deer, of introducing into England, i. 365.
Relationship, i. 371.
Religion, and religious establishments, Johnson's opinion concerning, i. 29, 168, 215, 219, 246, 327, 8, 341, 3, 5, 355, 6, 362, 9, 377, 415, 434; ii. 20, 32, 7, 42, 231, 384, 402—4, 452, 7, 576.
—the Roman Catholick and Presbyterian, i.
27, 8, 419; ii. 303, 499.
'Respublicae,'
(the work so entitled) ii. 71.
Review, Johnson's plan of an intended one, i. 156, 7.
Reviews, Monthly and Critical, and Reviewers, i. 295; ii. 60, 6, 361, 451.
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, i. 132, 444; ii. 64, 331, 528, 577.
—his 'Discourses,' ii. 279, 517.
—Letters from Johnson to him, i. 265, 349; ii. 430, 458, 474, 524, 548, 9.
Rhyme, its excellency, i. 232.
Richardson, Samuel, anecdotes of, i. 77; ii. 163, 241.
—his works praised, i. 299, 342, 369.
Riches, i. 365; 211, 242, 405, 424, 438.
Ridicule, ii. 337.
Riots in 1780, account of, ii. 317, 322.
Rising early, ii. 153.
Robertson, Reverend Dr. William, ii. 251.
—his works, i. 289, 301, 406; ii. 253.
—his imitation of Johnson's style, ii. 563.
Rochester's poems, ii. 168.
Rolt, his 'Dictionary of Trade and Commerce,' i. 194.
—anecdotes of, i. 195.
Romances, i. 15; ii. 337.
Round Robin, (literary,) ii. 92.
Rousseau, i. 278.
Rowe, Mrs. her works, i. 271.
Royal Academy instituted, i. 308.
Rudd, Mrs. Margaret Caroline, ii. 90, 251.
Ruffhead's life of Pope, i. 365.
Russia, Empress of, ii. 131, 280.
Rutty, Dr. his 'Spiritual Diary,' ii. 155.
S.
SAILORS, their life, ii. 21, 211, 473.
Salamanca University, i. 247.
Sarpi, Paolo, his 'Council of Trent,' i. 69.
—his life by Johnson, i. 77.
Savage, Richard, anecdotes of, i. 64, 87.
—his life by Johnson, i. 83, 7, 9, 91.
—enquiry as to his birth, i. 91—4.
—his tragedy of Sir Thomas Overbury presented, ii. 115.
Savages, ii. 69, 200, 449, 510.
Scarsdale, Lord, his seat at Keddlestone, i. 148.
Schoolmasters, reflections on, i. 45, 353.
—law cases as to, i. 375, 7; ii. 179, 180.
Scorpion, curious enquiry concerning, i. 301.
Scotch, remarks on their pronunciation, i. 360.
—Lairds, i. 222.
Scotland, and the Scotch, Johnson's opinion of and
bon mots
on, i. 231, 301, 312, 313, 340, 394, 400, 440, 450, 3, 7, 486, 495; ii. 17, 41, 4, 70, 88, 154, 191, 334, 389, 409, 434.
Scott, Sir William, i▪ 347; ii. 209, 383.
Scriptures, The Holy, ii. 74.
—Johnson's letters on the proposal to translate them into Erse, i. 286, 8, 9.
Scripture-phrases, i. 392.
Second-sight, i. 277, 355, 461.
Selected works, ii. 59, 188.
Sensibility, i. 321; ii. 40, 454, 5.
Sermons, the best, ii. 201.
Servants, i. 394; ii. 242.
Seward, Reverend Mr. ii. 37, 143, 306.
—Miss Anna, i. 11; ii. 38, 523.
—William, Esq, ii. 121.
Shakspeare, compared with Congreve, i. 317, 322.
—with Corneille, ii. 337.
—with Milton, ii. 372.
—Johnson's opinion of, ii. 338, 342.
—Johnson's edition of his plays, i. 95▪ 175, 6, 9, 180, 3, 201, 263;—published, i. 270, 334, 389;—remarks on, i. 271, 380; ii. 72, 395.
Sharpe's 'Letters on Italy,' ii. 72.
Shaw, Cuthbert, his poem of 'The Race,' i. 290.
—Reverend Mr. his Erse Grammar, ii. 107, 108, 474.
Shebbeare, Dr. ii. 396.
Shenstone, his verses on an inn, ii. 29.
Sheridan, Thomas, Esq. i. 208, 9, 246, 318, 344, 361, 462; ii. 44, 283, 452, 5, 522.
—Mrs. i. 210.
—R. B. Esq. his compliment to Johnson in a prologue, ii. 115.
Shipley, Dr. (late Bishop of St. Asaph,) ii. 203, 5, 469.
Short-hand, i. 399; ii. 214.
Siddons, Mrs. her visit to Johnson, ii. 467,
& seq.
Sibbald, Sir Robert, M. D. curious account of, ii. 188.
Simpson, Joseph, Esq. anecdotes of, i. 266; ii. 58.
—Letter from Johnson to, i. 188.
Sin, original, ii. 403.
Skene, Sir John, ii. 308.
Slavery, and the Slave-trade, ii. 174, 9;—and see Negroes.
Sleep, ii. 153, 4.
Smart, Christopher, i. 168, 214, 476.
Smith, Dr. Adam, ii. 252.
—his 'Wealth of Nations,' ii. 16.
—Captain, his attention to Johnson at Warley-camp, ii. 274.
Society, civilized, its customs, &c. i. 238, 240, 243, 278, 325, 401; ii. 209, 381.
Soldiers, ii. 48, 211, 273.
Somerville, Lord, ii. 354.
Southwell, Lord, ii. 438.
'Spectator The,' i. 392, 490; ii. 60, 7.
Spence's 'Anecdotes,' ii. 365.
Spirits, evil, ii. 500.
Stanhope, Mr. (Lord Chesterfield's son,) his character, i. 144.
Statuary, ii. 22, 190.
Staunton, Sir George, letter of Johnson to, i. 199.
Steele, Right Hon. Thomas, i. 74.
—Mr. his
'Prosodia Rationalis,'
i. 466.
—Sir Richard, ii. 27, 356, 383.
Steevens, George, Esq. re-publishes Johnson's Shakspeare, i. 334, 389.
—Johnson's letters to, i. 431, 2; ii. 102.
Steevens, George, Esq. communications from as to Johnson, ii. 518,
& seq.
Sterne, i. 398.
Stirling Corporation, i. 492.
Strahan, William, Esq. i. 464; ii. 275;—his letter as to obtaining Johnson a seat in parliament, i. 346.
—jun. his death, and Johnson's letter on, ii. 389.
—Mrs.—Johnson's letters to, ii. 389, 415.
—Reverend Mr. ii. 577.
Stratford-Jubilee.—See Garrick.
Stuart, Hon. Colonel James, ii. 297.
Stuart, Andrew, Esq. his 'Letters to Lord Mansfield,' i. 402.
Study, method of, i. 233, 258.
Style, ii. 220.
—Johnson's, remarks on, and on the imitations of, i. 122; ii. 156.
—instances of particular imitations, ii. 561,
& seq.
Suicide, i. 402; ii. 423.
Swearing, i. 364; ii. 166.
Sweden, King of, ii. 131.
Swift, letter to, as to Johnson's obtaining a degree, i. 67.
—Johnson's opinion of his works, i. 245, 306, 462.
—his life by Johnson, ii. 363.
Swinton, Reverend Mr. anecdote of, i. 148.
Sydenham, Dr.—Johnson's life of, i. 81.
T.
TACITUS, remarks on his style, i. 378.
'Tale of a Tub,' i. 245, 462.
'Taxation no Tyranny,' i. 458.
—additional passages in that pamphlet, i. 459.
Taylor, Dr.—Johnson's visit to, ii. 42, 128, 161.
—Johnson's letters to, ii. 458, 487.
—Reverend Dr. i. 13, 33, 106, 129; ii. 42, 134, 146, 161.
—the Chevalier, ii. 291.
—Jeremy, ii. 503.
Tea, i. 172.
Temple, Reverend Mr. i. 277, 460.
—his well-written character, of Gray, ii. 425.
Test, i. 463.
Testimony, general, i. 232, 3, 241.
Theocritus, ii. 329.
Thomas à Kempis, ii. 186, 493.
Thomson, Reverend James, his case, ii. 74,
& seq.
—the poet, his works, i. 246, 306; ii. 62.
—anecdotes of, ii. 117, 130, 272.
Thornton, Bonnel, his burlesque Ode, i. 227.
Thrale, Mr. i. 267, 313; ii. 32, 187, 326, 380.
—his death, ii. 379.
—fale of his brewhouse, ii. 470.
—Mrs.—See Piozzi.
Thurlow, Lord, an opinion of his on the Liberty of the Pulpit, ii. 79.
—Letter to Dr. Johnson from him, ii. 327.
—Johnson's opinion of, ii. 441.
—his letter to the authour, on Johnson's going to Italy, ii. 526.
—Johnson's letter to him on that occasion, ii. 535.
Toleration, i. 415, 418; ii. 285, 335, 452.
Topham's Case, ii. 51
Since the note referred to was written, the Case has received the determination of the Court of King's Bench; but it turned chiefly on the informality of the Indictment, and d
d not go into the general principles of
"libels on the dead."
—See Term Reports, Hilary Term, 31 Geo. III.
.
Torture, how used in Holland, i. 255.
Tory, Johnson's definition of, ii. 399, 501.
Towers, Dr. Joseph, i. 460.
—his 'Essay on the Life,' &c. of Johnson, ii. 348.
Townshend, Right Hon. Charles, anecdote of, i. 398.
Trade, Johnson's remarks on, i. 323.
Translation, i. 39; ii. 62.
'Traveller, The,' Goldsmith's poem of, i.
—Johnson's lines in, i. 276.—His high praise of, ii.
Travelling, ii. 47, 61, 194, 213, 233, 270, 1, 510, 517.
Travels, the authour's, his intention of publishing, ii. 233.
Trimblestown, Lord, ii. 188.
Trinity, Johnson's belief in, and just disapprobation of its being discussed in a mixed company, i. 419.
Truth, importance of a regard to, i. 237; ii. 19, 132, 188, 9, 300, 332, 379, 434, 440, 507, 544.
Twiss's travels in Spain, i. 477.
Tyers, Mr. Thomas, anecdotes of, ii. 237.
Tytler's vindication of Mary Queen of Scots, i. 192.
U and V.
'VANITY of human Wishes,' Johnson's poem, i. 103.
Vansittart, Dr. Robert, i. 189.
Vauxhall-gardens, ii. 237.
'Vicar of Wakefield,' (novel,) i. 225.
Vilette, Reverend Mr. Ordinary of Newgate, ii. 522.
'Village, Deserted,' a poem by Goldsmith;—Johnson's lines in, i. 275.
'Village,' a poem, by the Reverend Mr. Crabbe, ii. 438.
Virgil, compared with Horner, ii. 169.
—Johnson's juvenile translations from, i. 17.
—Baskerville's edition of, presented by Johnson to Pembroke College, i. 308.
Virtue and Vice, ii. 263, 5, 501.
'Visitor, The,' a periodical paper, i. 476.
Vivacity, acquirable, ii. 34.
'Universal History,' the authours of, ii. 558.
Universities, i. 300, 490; ii. 50.
Volcanos, ii. 38.
Voltaire, i. 236, 274, 8, 342; ii. 267.
Vows, ii. 268.
Usury, ii. 57, 257.
Vyse, Reverend Dr. letter of to the Authour, and letter of Johnson to him, ii. 123;—and see ii. 551.
W.
WALES, Johnson's visit to, i. 439.
Wall, Dr. ii. 502.
Wall of China, ii. 213.
Waller, i. 485; ii. 248.
—extract from his 'Divine Poosie,' as to the communion of saints, ii. 500.
—Johnson's life of, ii. 347.
Walmsley, Gilbert, Esq. character of, i. 35.
—his letter recommending Johnson and Garrick, i. 48.
Walpole, Hon. Horace, ii. 514.
—Sir Robert, his administration defended, i. 66.
Walton, Isaac, his 'Lives,' i. 435, 7, 9, 487; ii. 26, 108.
Warburton, his contest with Lowth, i. 293.
—Johnson's character of, ii. 352, 3, 498.
Ward, the noted Dr. ii. 291.
Warley-camp, Johnson's visit to, ii. 273, 9.
Warren, Dr. his generous attendance on Johnson during his last illness, ii. 570, 6.
Warton, Reverend Dr. Joseph, his 'Essay on Pope's Genius,' &c. i. 243.
—Letters of Johnson to, i. 136, 335.
—Reverend Thomas, i. 146; ii. 26, 332.
—his entertaining account of Johnson's conversation when at Oxford in 1754, i. 147.
—Letters of Johnson to, 146, 150, 1, 2, 153, 6, 160, 1, 177, 183, 4, 308, 334.
Watts, Dr. his works, i. 171.
—his life▪ ii. 123, 269.
Weather, its influence, i. 232, 245, 484; ii. 488, 538, 543.
Webster, Reverend Dr. Alexander, i. 428, 432.
Wedderburne, Alexander, Esq.—See Loughborough, Lord.
Welch, Saunders, Esq. ii. 269, 271, 298.
—Letter of Johnson to, ii. 269.
Wentworth, Mr.—Johnson at his school, i. 16.
Wesley, Reverend John, ii. 190, 231.
—Letter of Johnson to, ii. 294.
Westcote, Lord, confirms to Johnson the truth of his nephew Lord Lyttelton's vision, ii. 505.
Westminster-abbey, first musical festival at, ii. 495, 7.
Wetherell, Reverend Dr. ii. 23, 509.
—Letter of Johnson to, ii. 12.
Wheeler, Reverend Dr. ii. 277.
—Johnson's letter to, ii. 12.
Whigs, Johnson's definition of, ii. 399; no great private enmity between them and Tories, ii. 501.
Whitefield, Reverend George, his character, i. 33, 314; ii. 304.
Whitefoord, Caleb, Esq. ii. 518.
Whitehead, Paul, i. 64, 217.
'Whole Duty of Man,' conjectures on its authour, i. 408.
Wife, qualities of, Sir Thomas Overbury's verses on, i. 312.
Wilkes, John, Esq. his
jcu d'esprit
on Johnson's Dictionary, i. 166.
—meetings between him and Johnson, ii. 80, &
seq.
389.
—Johnson's opinion of him, ii. 163.
—anecdote of gallantry related by him, ii. 5
3.
—his advice how best to speak at the bar of the House of Commons, ii. 187.
—his pleasantry on Johnson and himself, as to their politicks and religion, ii. 187.
K. William III. i. 474.
Williams, Mr. Zachariah, account of, i. 149, 166, 7.
Williams Mrs. Anna, i. 127, 228, 252, 323; ii. 57, 82, 98, 126, 9, 278.
Williams, Mrs. Anna, her death, ii. 463, 7.
—Miss Helen Maria, ii. 495.
Wilson, Reverend Mr. letter of Johnson to, ii. 430.
Windham, Right Hon. William, letters of Johnson to, ii. 458, 545, 6;—and see ii. 540, 576.
Wine, the use of, i. 378, 380; ii. 20, 64, 154, 199, 202, 248, 254, 286, 290, 371, 6, 383.
Wirtemberg, Prince of, anecdote of, i. 373.
Wit, ii. 391, 2.
Witches, i. 372; ii. 286.
Wraxall, Mr. ii. 316.
'The World,' (periodical essays,) i. 228.
X.
XERXES, Juvenal's fine verses on, i. 401.
Y.
YOUNG, Dr. his 'Night Thoughts,' i. 322▪ ii. 362.
—Johnson's life of, i. 361.
—anecdotes of, ii. 400, 2.
—his fine image of delicate satire, ii. 505.
—Mr. (Greek Professor at Glasgow,) his 'Criticism on Gray's Elegy,' in imitation of Johnson, ii. 565.
Z.
ZECK, Luke, anecdote of, i. 275.
CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS, Which the Reader is requested to make with his Pen▪ before perusing the following Life.
VOLUME I.
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Page 133, line 24,
for
a warren,
read
free warren.
P. 136, l. 6,
for
is certainly the performance of Dr. Charles Bathurst,
read
has been erroneously ascribed to Dr. Bathurst, whose christian name was Richard.
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put the following note:
—I have had inquiry made in Ireland as to this story, but do not find it recollected there. I give it on the authority of Dr. Johnson, to which may be added, that of
"The Biographical Dictionary,"
in which it has stood many years.
Ibid.
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a book on the authenticity of the Gospel History,
read
"An Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue."
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,
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.
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VOLUME II.
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To Mr.
EDMUND ALLEN.
DEAR SIR,
IT has pleased GOD this morning to deprive me of the powers of speech; and as I do not know but that it may be his farther good pleasure to deprive me soon of my senses, I request you will, on the receipt of this note, come to me, and act for me, as the exigencies of my case may require. I am sincerely yours.
SAM. JOHNSON.
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—But the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's having come to a resolution of admitting monuments there, upon a liberal and magnisicent plan, that cathedral was afterwards fixed on as the place.
THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D.
TO write the life of him who excelled all mankind in writing the lives of others, and who, whether we consider his extraordinary endowments, or his various works, has been equalled by few in any age, is an arduous, and may be reckoned in me a presumptuous task.
Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given
Idler▪ No. 84.
, that every man's life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited. But although he at different times, in a desultory manner, committed to writing many particulars of the progress of his mind and fortunes, he never had persevering diligence enough to form them into a regular composition. Of these memorials a few have been preserved; but the greater part was consigned by him to the flames, a few days before his death.
As I had the honour and happiness of enjoying his friendship for upwards of twenty years; as I had the scheme of writing his life constantly in view; as he was well apprised of this circumstance, and from time to time obligingly satisfied my inquiries, by communicating to me the incidents of his early years; as I acquired a facility in recollecting, and was very assiduous in recording his conversation, of which the extraordinary vigour and vivacity constituted one of the first features of his character; and as I have spared no pains in obtaining materials concerning him, from every quarter where I could discover that they were to be found, and have been favoured with the most liberal communications by his friends; I flatter myself that few biographers have entered upon such a work as this, with more advantages, independent of literary abilities, in which I am not vain enough to compare myself with some great names who have gone before me in this kind of writing.
Since my work was announced, several Lives and Memoirs of Dr. Johnson have been published, the most voluminous of which is one compiled for the Booksellers of London, by Sir John Hawkins, Knight
The greatest part of this book was written while Sir John Hawkins was alive; and I avow, that one object of my strictures was to make him feel some compunction for his illiberal treatment of Dr. Johnson. Since his decease, I have suppressed several of my remarks upon his work. But though I would not
"war with the dead"
offensively,
I think it necessary to be strenuous in
defence
of my illustrious friend, which I cannot be, without strong animadversion upon a writer who has greatly injured him, Let me add, that though I doubt I should not have been very prompt to gratify Sir John Hawkins with any compliment in his life-time, I do now frankly acknowledge, that, in my opinion, his volume, however inadequate and improper as a life of Dr. Johnson, and however discredited by unpardonable inaccuracies in other respects, contains a collection of curious anecdotes and observations, which few men but its authour could have brought together.
, a man, whom, during my long intimacy with Dr. Johnson, I never saw in his company, I think but once, and I am sure not above twice. Johnson might have esteemed him for his decent, religious demeanour, and his knowledge of books and literary history; but from the rigid formality of his manners, it is evident that they never could have lived together with companionable ease and familiarity; nor had Sir John Hawkins that nice perception which was necessary to mark the finer and less obvious parts of Johnson's character. His being appointed one of his executors, gave him an opportunity of taking possession of such fragments of a diary and other papers as were left, of which, before delivering them up to the residuary legatee, whose property they were, he endeavoured to extract the substance. In this he has not been very successful, as I have found upon a perusal of those papers, which have been since transferred to me. Sir John Hawkins's ponderous labours, I must acknowledge, exhibit a
farrago,
of which a considerable portion is not devoid of entertainment to the lovers of literary gossiping; but beside
its being swelled out with long unnecessary extracts from various works, (even one of several leaves from Osborne's Harleian Catalogue, and those not compiled by Johnson, but by Oldys) a very small part of it relates to the person who is the subject of the book; and, in that, there is such an inaccuracy in the statement of facts, as in so solemn an authour is hardly excusable, and certainly makes his narrative very unsatisfactory. But what is still worse, there is throughout the whole of it a dark uncharitable cast, by which the most unfavourable construction is put upon almost every circumstance in the character and conduct of my illustrious friend; who, I trust, will, by a true and fair delineation, be vindicated both from the injurious misrepresentations of this authour, and from the slighter aspersions of a lady who once lived in great intimacy with him.
There is, in the British Museum, a letter from Bishop Warburton to Dr. Birch, on the subject of biography; which, though I am aware it may expose me to a charge of artfully raising the value of my own work, by contrasting it with that of which I have spoken, is so well conceived and expressed, that I cannot refrain from here inserting it:
I SHALL endeavour (says Dr. Warburton) to give you what satisfaction I can in any thing you want to be satisfied in any subject of Milton, and am extremely glad you intend to write his life. Almost all the life-writers we have had before Toland and Desmaiseaux, are indeed strange insipid creatures; and yet I had rather read the worst of them, than be obliged to go through with this of Milton's, or the other's life of Boileau, where there is such a dull, heavy succession of long quotations of disinteresting passages, that it makes their method quite nauseous. But the verbose, tasteless Frenchman seems to lay it down as a principle, that every life must be a book, and what's worse, it proves a book without a life; for what do we know of Boileau, after all his tedious stuff? You are the only one, (and I speak it without a compliment) that by the vigour of your stile and sentiments, and the real importance of your materials, have the art (which one would imagine no one could have missed) of adding agreements to the most agreeable subject in the world, which is literary history
Brit. Mus. 4320. Ascough's Catal. Sloan
MSS.
.
Nov. 24, 1737.
Instead of melting down my materials into one mass, and constantly speaking in my own person, by which I might have appeared to have more merit in the execution of the work, I have resolved to adopt and enlarge upon the excellent plan of Mr. Mason, in his Memoirs of Gray. Wherever narrative is necessary to explain, connect, and supply, I furnish it to the best of my abilities; but in the chronological series of Johnson's life, which I trace as distinctly as I can, year by year, I produce, wherever it is in my power, his own minutes, letters, or conversation, being convinced that this mode is more lively, and will make my readers better acquainted with him, than even most of those were who actually knew him, but could know him only partially; whereas there is here an accumulation of intelligence from various points, by which his character is
ore fully understood and illustrated.
Indeed I cannot conceive a more perfect mode of writing any man's life, than not only relating all the most important events of it in their order, but interweaving what he privately wrote, and said, and thought; by which mankind are enabled as it were to see him live, and to
"live o'er each scene"
with him, as he actually advanced through the several stages of his life. Had his other friends been as diligent and ardent as I was, he might have been almost entirely preserved. As it is, I will venture to say that he will be seen in this work more completely than any man who has ever yet lived.
And he will be seen as he really was; for I profess to write, not his panegyrick, which must be all praise, but his life; which, great and good as he was, must not be supposed to be entirely perfect. To be as he was, is indeed subject of panegyrick enough to any man in this state of being; but in every picture there should be shade as well as light, and when I delineate him without reserve, I do what he himself recommended, both by his precept and his example:
"If the biographer writes from personal knowledge, and makes haste to gratify the publick curiosity, there is danger lest his interest, his fear, his gratitude, or his tenderness overpower his fidelity, and tempt him to conceal, if not to invent. There are many who think it an act of piety to hide the faults or failings of their friends, even when they can no longer suffer by their detection▪ we therefore see whole ranks of characters adorned with uniform panegyrick, and not to be known from one another but by extrinsick and casual circumstances. 'Let me remember, (says Hale) when I find myself inclined to pity a criminal, that there is likewise a pity due to the country.' If we owe regard to the memory of the dead, there is yet more respect to be paid to knowledge, to virtue, and to truth
Rambler, No. 60.
."
What I consider as the peculiar value of the following work, is, the quantity that it contains of Johnson's conversation; which is universally acknowledged to have been eminently instructive and entertaining; and of which the specimens that I have given upon a former occasion, have been received with so much approbation, that I have good grounds for supposing that the world will not be indifferent to more ample communications of a similar nature.
That the conversation of a celebrated man, if his talents have been exerted in conversation, will best display his character, is, I trust, too well established in the judgement of mankind, to be at all shaken by a sneering observation of Mr. Mason, in his Memoirs of Mr. William Whitehead, in which there is literally no
Life,
but a mere dry narrative of facts. I do not think it was quite necessary to attempt a depreciation of what is universally esteemed, because it was not to be found in the immediate object of the ingenious writer's pen; for in truth, from a man so still and so tame, as to be contented to pass many years as the domestick companion of a superannuated lord and lady, conversation worth recording could no more be expected, than from a Chinese mandarin on a chimney-piece, or the fantastick figures on a gilt leather skreen.
If authority be required, let us appeal to Plutarch, the prince of ancient biographers.
.
"Nor is it always in the most distinguished atchievements that men's virtues or vices may be best discerned; but very often an action of small note, a short saying, or a jest, shall distinguish a person's real character more than the greatest sieges, or the most important battles
Plutarch's Life of Alexander.—Langhorne's Translation.
."
To this may be added the sentiments of the very man whose life I am am about to exhibit.
"The business of the biographer is often to pass slightly over those performances and incidents which produce vulgar greatness, to lead the thoughts into domestick privacies, and display the minute details of daily life, where exterior appendages are cast aside, and men excel each other only by prudence and by virtue. The account of Thuanus is with great propriety said by its authour to have been written, that it might lay open to posterity the private and familiar character of that man,
cujus ingenium et candorem ex ipsius scriptis sunt olim semper miraturi,
whose candour and genius will to the end of time be by his writings preserved in admiration.
There are many invisible circumstances, which whether we read as enquirers after natural or moral knowledge, whether we intend to enlarge our science, or increase our virtue, are more important than publick occurrences. Thus Sallust, the great master of nature, has not forgot in his account of Catiline to remark, that his walk was now quick, and again slow, as an indication of a mind revolving with violent commotion. Thus the story of Melancthon affords a striking lecture on the value of time, by informing us, that when he had made an appointment, he expected not only the hour, but the minute to be fixed, that the day might not run out in the idleness of suspence; and all the plans and enterprizes of De Wit are now of less importance to the world than that part of his personal character, which represents him as careful of his health, and negligent of his life.
But biography has often been allotted to writers, who seem▪ very little acquainted with the nature of their task, or very negligent about the performance. They rarely afford any other account than might be collected from publick papers, but imagine themselves writing a life, when they exhibit a chronological series of actions or preferments; and have so little regard to the manners or behaviour of their heroes, that more knowledge may be gained of a man's real character, by a short conversation with one of his servants, than from a formal and studied narrative, begun with his pedigree, and ended with his funeral.
There are, indeed, some natural reasons why these narratives are often written by such as were not likely to give much instruction or delight, and why most accounts of particular persons are barren and useless. If a life be delayed till interest and envy are at an end, we may hope for impartiality, but must expect little intelligence; for the incidents which give excellence to biography are of a volatile and evanescent kind, such as soon escape the memory, and are transmitted by tradition. We know how few can pourtray a living acquaintance, except by his most prominent and observable particularities, and the grosser features of his mind; and it may be easily imagined how much of this little knowledge may be lost in imparting it, and how soon a succession of copies will lose all resemblance of the original
Rambler, No. 60.
.
I am fully aware of the objections which may be made to the minuteness on some occasions of my detail of Johnson's conversation, and how happily it is adapted for the petty exercise of ridicule by men of superficial understanding, and ludicrous fancy; but I remain firm and confident in my opinion, that minute particulars are frequently characteristick, and always amusing, when they relate to a distinguished man. I am therefore exceedingly unwilling that almost any thing which my illustrious friend thought it worth his while to express, with any degree of point, should perish. For this almost superstitious reverence, I have found very old and venerable authority, quoted by our great modern prelate, Secker, in whose tenth sermon there is the following passage:
"Rabbi David Kimchi,
a noted Jewish commentator who lived above five hundred years ago, explains that passage in the first Psalm,
His leaf also shall not wither,
from Rabbins yet older than himself, thus: That
even the idle talk,
so he expresses it,
of a good man ought to be regarded;
the most superfluous things he saith are always of some value. And other ancient authours have the same phrase, nearly in the same sense."
Of one thing I am certain, that considering how highly the small portion which we have of the table-talk and other anecdotes of our celebrated writers is valued, and how earnestly it is regretted that we have not more, I am justified in preserving rather too many of Johnson's sayings than too few; especially as from the diversity of dispositions it cannot be known with certainty beforehand, whether what may seem trifling to some, and perhaps to the collector himself, may not be most agreeable to many; and the greater number that an authour can please in any degree, the more pleasure does there arise to a benevolent mind.
To those who are weak enough to think this a degrading task, and the time and labour which have been devoted to it misemployed, I shall content myself with opposing the authority of the greatest man of any age, JULIUS CAESAR, of whom Bacon observes, that
"in his book of Apothegms which he collected, we see that he esteemed it more honour to make himself but a pair of tables, to take the wise and pithy words of others, than to have every word of his own to be made an apothegm or an oracle
Bacon's Advancement of Learning, Book I.
."
Having said thus much by way of introduction, I commit the following pages to the candour of the publick.
SAMUEL JOHNSON was born at Lichfield, in Staffordshire, on the 18th of September, N. S. 1709; and his initiation into the Christian church was not delayed; for his baptism is recorded, in the register of St. Mary's parish in that city, to have been performed on the day of his birth: His father is there stiled
Gentleman,
a circumstance of which an ignorant panegyrist has praised him for not being proud; when the truth is, that the appellation of Gentleman, though now lost in the indiscriminate assumption of
Esquire,
was commonly taken by those who could not boast of gentility. His father was Michael Johnson, a native of Derbyshire, of obscure extraction, who settled in Lichfield as a bookseller and stationer. His mother was Sarah Ford, descended of an ancient race of substantial yeomanry in Warwickshire. They were well advanced in years when they married, and never had more than two children, both sons; Samuel, their first born, who lived to be the illustrious character whose various excellence I am to endeavour to record, and Nathanael, who died in his twenty-fifth year.
Mr. Michael Johnson was a man of a large and robust body, and of a strong and active mind; yet, as in the most solid rocks veins of unsound substance are often discovered, there was in him a mixture of that disease, the nature of which eludes the most minute enquiry, though the effects are well known to be a weariness of life, an unconcern about those things which agitate the greater part of mankind, and a general sensation of gloomy wretchedness. From him then his son inherited, with some other qualities,
"a vile melancholy,"
which in his too strong expression of any disturbance of the mind,
"made him mad all his life, at least not sober.
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit▪ p. 213.
"
Michael was, however, forced by the narrowness of his circumstances to be very diligent in business, not only in his shop, but by occasionally resorting to several towns in the neighbourhood, some of which were at a considerable distance from Lichfield. At that time booksellers' shops in the provincial towns of England were very rare, so that there was not one even in Birmingham, in which town old Mr. Johnson used to open a shop every market-day. He was a pretty good Latin scholar, and a citizen so creditable as to be made one of the magistrates of Lichfield; and, being a man of good sense, and skill in his trade, he acquired a reasonable share of wealth, of which however he afterwards lost the greatest part, by engaging unsuccessfully in a manufacture of parchment. He was a zealous high-churchman and royalist, and retained his attachment to the unfortunate house of Stuart, though he reconciled himself, by casuistical arguments of expediency and necessity, to take the oaths imposed by the prevailing power.
There is a circumstance in his life somewhat romantick, but so well authenticated, that I shall not omit it. A young woman of Leek, in Staffordshire, while he served his apprenticeship there, conceived a violent passion for him; and though it met with no favourable return, followed him to Lichfield, where she took lodgings opposite to the house in which he lived, and indulged her hopeless flame. When he was informed that it so preyed upon her mind that her life was in danger, he with a generous humanity went to her and offered to marry her, but it was then too late: Her vital power was exhausted; and she actually exhibited one of the very rare instances of dying for love. She was buried in the cathedral of Lichfield; and he, with a tender regard, placed a stone over her grave with this inscription:
Here lies the body of Mrs. ELIZABETH BLANEY, a stranger.
She departed this life 20 of September, 1694.
Johnson's mother was a woman of distinguished understanding. I asked his old school-fellow Mr. Hector, surgeon, of Birmingham, if she was not vain of her son. He said,
"she had too much good sense to be vain, but she knew her son's value."
Her piety was not inferiour to her understanding; and to her must be ascribed those early impressions of religion upon the mind of her son▪ from which the world afterwards derived so much benefit. He told me, that he remembered distinctly having had the first notice of Heaven
"a place to which good people went,"
and Hell
"a place to which bad people went,"
communicated to him by her, when a little child in bed with her; and that it might be the better fixed in his memory, she sent him to repeat it to Thomas Jackson, their man-servant. He not being in the way, this was not done; but there was no occasion for any artificial aid for its preservation.
In following so very eminent a man from his cradle to his grave, every minute particular, which can throw light on the progress of his mind, is interesting. That he was remarkable, even in his earliest years, may easily be supposed; for to use his own words in his Life of Sydenham,
"That the strength of his understanding, the accuracy of his discernment, and ardour of his curiosity, might have been remarked from his infancy, by a diligent▪ observer, there is no reason to doubt. For, there is no instance of any man,
whose history has been minutely related, that did not in every part of life discover the same proportion of intellectual vigour."
In all such investigations it is certainly unwise to pay too much attention to incidents which the credulous relate with eager satisfaction, and the more scrupulous or witty enquirer considers only as topicks of ridicule: Yet there is a traditional story of the infant Hercules of toryism, so curiously characteristick, that I shall not withold it. It was communicated to me in a letter from Miss Mary Adye, of Lichfield.
"When Dr. Sacheverel was at Lichfield, Johnson was not quite three years old. My grandfather Hammond observed him at the cathedral perched upon his father's shoulders, listening, and gaping at the much celebrated preacher. Mr. Hammond asked Mr. Johnson how he could possibly think of bringing such an infant to church, and in the midst of so great a croud. He answered, because it was impossible to keep him at home; for, young as he was, he believed he had caught the publick spirit and zeal for Sacheverel, and would have staid for ever in the church, satisfied with beholding him."
Nor can I omit a little instance of that jealous independence of spirit, and impetuosity of temper, which never forsook him. The fact was acknowledged to me by himself, upon the authority of his mother. One day, when the servant who used to be sent to school to conduct him home, had not come in time, he set out by himself, though he was then so near-sighted, that he was obliged to stoop down on his hands and knees to take a view of the kennel before he ventured to step over it. His schoolmistress, afraid that he might miss his way, or fall into the kennel, or be run over by a cart, followed him at some distance. He happened to turn about and perceive her. Feeling her careful attention as an insult to his manliness, he ran back to her in a rage, and beat her, as well as his strength would permit.
Of the strength of his memory, for which he was all his life eminent to a degree almost incredible, the following early instance was told me in his presence at Lichfield, in 1776, by his step-daughter, Mrs. Lucy Porter, as related to her by his mother. When he was a child in petticoats, and had learnt to read, Mrs. Johnson one morning put the common prayer-book into his hands, pointed to the collect for the day, and said,
"Sam, you must get this by heart."
She went up stairs, leaving him to study it: But by the time she had reached the second floor, she heard him following her.
"What's the matter?"
said she.
"I can say it,"
he replied; and repeated it distinctly, though he could not have read it over more than twice.
But there has been another story of his infant precocity generally circulated, and generally believed, the truth of which I am to refute upon his own authority. It is told
Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson by Hester Lynch Piozzi, p. 11.—Life of Dr. Johnson by Sir John Hawkins. p. 6.
, that, when a child of three years old, he chanced to tread upon a duckling, the eleventh of a brood, and killed it; upon which, it is said, he dictated to his mother the following epitaph:
"Here lies good master duck,
Whom Samuel Johnson trod on;
If it had liv'd, it had been
good luck,
For then we'd had an
odd one."
There is surely internal evidence that this little composition combines in it, what no child of three years old could produce, without an extension of its faculties by immediate inspiration; yet Mrs. Lucy Porter, Dr. Johnson's step-daughter, positively maintained to me, in his presence, that there could be no doubt of the truth of this anecdote, for she had heard it from his mother. So difficult is it to obtain an authentick relation of facts, and such authority may there be for errour; for he assured me, that his father made the verses, and wished to pass them for his child's. He added,
"my father was a foolish old man; that is to say, foolish in talking of his children
This anecdote of the duck, though disproved by internal and external evidence, has nevertheless, upon supposition of its truth, been made the foundation of the following ingenious and fanciful reflections by Miss Seward, amongst the communications concerning Dr. Johnson with which she has been pleased to favour me.—
"These infant numbers contain the seeds of those propensities which through his life so strongly marked his character, of that poetick talent which afterwards bore such rich and plentiful fruits; for, excepting his orthographick works, every thing which Dr. Johnson wrote was Poetry, whose essence consists not in numbers, o
in jingle, but in the strength and glow of a fancy, to which all the stores of nature and of art stand in prompt administration; and in an eloquence which conveys their blended illustrations in a language 'more tuneable than needs or rhyme or verse to add more harmony.'
"The above little verses also shew that superstitious bias which 'grew with his growth, and strengthened with his strength,' and of late years particularly injured his happiness, by presenting to him the g
my side of religion, rather than that bright and cheering one which gilds the period of closing
with the light of pious hope."
This
beautifully imagined, that I would not suppress it. But, like many other theories▪ deduced from a supposed fact, which is, indeed, a fiction▪
."
Young Johnson had the misfortune to be much afflicted with the scrophula, or king's evil, which disfigured a countenance naturally well formed, and hurt his visual nerves so much, that he did not see at all with one of his eyes, though its appearance was little different from that of the other. There is amongst his prayers, one inscribed
"When my
EYE
was restored to its use
Prayers and Meditations, p. 27.
,"
which ascertains a defect that many of his friends knew he had, though I never perceived it. I supposed him to be only near-sighted; and indeed I must observe, that in no other respect could I discern any defect in his vision; on the contrary, the force of his attention and perceptive quickness made him see and distinguish all manner of objects, whether of nature or of art, with a nicety that is rarely to be found. When he and I were travelling in the Highlands of Scotland, and I pointed out to him a mountain which I observed resembled a cone, he corrected my inaccuracy by shewing me, that it was indeed pointed at the top, but that one side of it was larger than the other. And the ladies with whom he was acquainted agree, that no man was more nicely and minutely critical in the elegance of female dress. When I found that he saw the romantick beauties of Islam, in Derbyshire, much better than I did, I told him that he resembled an able performer upon a bad instrument. How false and contemptible then are all the remarks which have been made to the prejudice either of his candour or of his philosophy, founded upon a supposition that he was almost blind. It has been said, that he contracted this grievous malady from his nurse. His mother yielding to the superstitious notion, which, it is wonderful to think, prevailed so long in this country, as to the virtue of the regal touch; a notion, which our kings encouraged, and to which a man of such inquiry and such judgement as Carte could give credit▪ carried him to London, where he was actually touched by Queen Anne. Mrs. Johnson indeed, as Mr. Hector informed me, acted by the advice of the celebrated Sir John Floyer, then a physician in Lichfield. Johnson used to talk of this very frankly; and Mrs. Piozzi has preserved his very picturesque description of the scene, as it remained upon his fancy. Being asked if he could remember Queen Anne,
"He had (he said) a confused, but somehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in diamonds, and a long black hood
Anecdotes, p. 10.
."
This touch, however, was without any effect. I ventured to say to him, in allusion to the political principles in which he was educated, and of which he ever retained some odour, that
"his mother had not carried him far enough; she should have taken him to ROME."
He was first taught to read English by Dame Oliver, a widow, who kept a school for young children in Lichfield. He told me she could read the black letter, and asked him to borrow for her, from his father, a bible in that character. When he was going to Oxford, she came to take leave of him, brought him, in the simplicity of her kindness, a present of gingerbread, and said he was the best scholar she had ever had. He delighted in mentioning this early compliment; adding, with a smile, that
"this was as high a proof of his merit as he could conceive."
His next instructor in English was a master, whom, when he spoke of him to me, he familiarly called Tom Brown, who, said he,
"published a spelling-book, and dedicated it to the UNIVERSE;—but, I fear, no copy of it can now be had."
He began to learn Latin with Mr. Hawkins, usher, or under-master of Lichfield school,
"a man (said he) very skilful in his little way."
With him he continued two years, and then rose to be under the care of Mr. Hunter the head-master, who, according to his account,
"was very severe, and wrong-headedly severe. He used (said he) to beat us unmercifully; and he did not distinguish between ignorance and negligence; for he would beat a boy equally for not knowing a thing, as for neglecting to know it. He would ask a boy a question; and if he did not answer it, he would beat him, without considering whether he had an opportunity of knowing how to answer it. For instance, he would call up a boy and ask him Latin for a candlestick, which the boy could not expect to be asked. Now, Sir, if a boy could answer every question, there would be no need of a master to teach him."
It is, however, but justice to the memory of Mr. Hunter to mention, that though he might err in being too severe▪ the school of Lichfield was very respectable in his time. The late Dr. Taylor, Prebendary of Westminster, who was educated under him, told me, that he was an excellent master, and that his ushers were most of them men of eminence; that Holbrook, one of the most ingenious men, best scholars, and best preachers of his age, was usher during the greatest part of the time that Johnson was at school. Then came Hague, of whom as much might be said, with the addition that he was an elegant poet. Hague was succeeded by Green, afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, whose character in the learned world is well known. In the same form with Johnson was Congreve, who afterwards became chaplain to Archbishop Bou
ter, and by that connection obtained good preferment in Ireland. He was a younger son of the ancient family of Congreve, in Stassordshire, of which the poet was a branch. His brother sold the estate. There was also Lowe, afterwards Canon of Windsor; who was tutor to the present Marquis Townshend, and his brother Charles.
Indeed Johnson was very sensible how much he owed to Mr. Hunter. Mr. Langton one day asked him how he had acquired so accurate a knowledge of Latin, in which, I believe, he was exceeded by no man of his time▪ he said,
"My master whipt me very well. Without that, Sir, I should have done nothing."
He told Mr. Langton, that while Hunter was flogging his boys unmercifully, he used to say,
"And this I do to save you from the gallows."
Johnson, upon all occasions, expressed his approbation of enforcing instruction by means of the rod.
"I would rather (said he) have the rod to be the general terrour to all, to make them learn, than tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters. The rod produces an effect which terminates in itself. A child is afraid of being whipped, and gets his task, and there's an end on't; whereas, by exciting emulation and comparisons of superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief; you make brothers and sisters hate each other."
Mr. Langton told me, that when Johnson saw some young ladies in Lincolnshire who were remarkably well behaved, owing to their mother's strict discipline and severe correction, he exclaimed, in one of Shakspeare's lines a little varied,
"Rod,
I will honour thee for this thy duty."
That superiority over his fellows, which he maintained with so much dignity in his march through life, was not assumed from vanity and ostentation, but was the natural and constant effect of those extraordinary powers of mind, of which he could not but be conscious by comparison; the intellectual difference, which in other cases of comparison of characters is often a matter of undecided contest, being as clear in his case as the superiority of stature in some men above others. Johnson did not strut or stand on tip-toe: He only did not stoop. From his earliest years, his superiority was perceived and acknowledged. He was from the beginning
, a king of men. His schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, has obligingly furnished me with many particulars of his boyish days; and assured me, that he never knew him corrected at school, but for talking and diverting other boys from their business. He seemed to learn by intuition; for though indolence and procrastination were inherent in his constitution, whenever he made an exertion he did more than any one else. In short, he is a memorable instance of what has been often observed, that the boy is the man in miniature; and that the distinguishing characteristicks of each individual are the same, through the whole course of life. His favourites used to receive very liberal assistance from him; and such was the submission and deference with which he was treated, such the desire to obtain his regard, that three of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was sometimes one, used to come in the morning as his humble attendants, and carry him to school. One in the middle stooped, while he sat upon his back, and one on each side supported him; and thus he was borne triumphant. Such a proof of the early predominance of intellectual vigour is very remarkable, and does honour to human nature. Talking to me once himself of his being much distinguished at school, he told me,
"they never thought to raise me by comparing me to any one; they never said, Johnson is as good a scholar as such a one; but such a one is as good a scholar as Johnson; and this was said but of one, but of Lowe; and I do not think he was as good a scholar."
He discovered a great ambition to excel, which roused him to counteract his indolence. He was uncommonly inquisitive; and his memory was so tenacious, that he never forgot any thing that he either heard or read. Mr. Hector remembers having recited to him eighteen verses, which, after a little pause, he repeated
verbatim,
varying only one epithet, by which he improved the line.
He never joined with the other boys in their ordinary diversions; his only amusement was in winter, when he took a pleasure in being drawn upon the ice by a boy barefooted, who pulled him along by a garter fixed round him; no very easy operation, as his size was remarkably large. His defective sight, indeed, prevented him from enjoying the common sports; and he once pleasantly remarked to me, how wonderfully well he had contrived to be idle without them. Lord Chesterfield, however, has justly observed in one of his letters, when earnestly cautioning a friend against the pernicious effects of idleness, that active sports are not to be reckoned idleness in young people; and that the listless torpor of doing nothing, alone deserves that name. Of this dismal inertness of disposition, Johnson had all his life too great a share. Mr. Hector relates, that
"he could not oblige him more than by sauntering away the hours of vacation in the fields, during which he was more engaged in talking to himself than to his companion."
Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, who was long intimately acquainted with him, and has preserved a few anecdotes concerning him, regretting that he was not a more diligent collector, informs me, that
"when a boy he was immoderately fond of reading romances of chivalry, and he retained his fondness for them through life; so that (adds his Lordship) spending part of a summer at my parsonage-house in the country, he chose for his regular reading
the old Spanish romance of FELIXM
TE OF HIRGANIA▪ in folio, which he read quite through. Yet I have heard him attribute to these extravagant fictions▪ that unsettled turn of mind which prevented his ever fixing in any profession."
After having resided for some time at the house of his uncle, Gornelins Ford, Johnson was, at the age of fifteen, removed to the school of Stourbridge, in Worcestershire, of which Mr. Wentworth was then master. This step was taken by the advice of his cousin the Reverend Mr. Ford; a man in whom both talents and good dispositions were disgraced by licentiousness
He is said to be the original of the parson in Hogarth's Modern Midnight Conversation.
, but who was a very able judge of what was right. At this school he did not receive so much benefit
s was expected. It has been said, that he acted in the capacity of an assistant to Mr. Wentworth, in teaching the younger boys.
"Mr. Wentworth (he told me) was a very able man, but an idle man, and to me very severe; but I cannot blame him much. I was then a big boy; he saw I did not reverence him; and that he should get no honour by me. I had brought enough with me, to carry me through; and all I should get at his school would be ascribed to my own labour, or to my former master. Yet he taught me a great deal."
He thus discriminated, to Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, his progress at his two grammar-schools.
"At one, I learnt much in the school, but little from the master; in the other, I learnt much from the master, but little in the school."
The Bishop also informs me, that
"Dr. Johnson's father, before he was received at Stourbridge, applied to have him admitted as a scholar and assistant to the Reverend Samuel Lea, M. A. head master of Newport school, in Shropshire, (a very diligent good teacher, at that time in high reputation, under whom Mr. Hollis is said, in the Memoirs of his Life, to have been also educated
As was likewise the Bishop of Dromore many years afterwards.
).
This application to Mr. Lea was not successful; but Johnson had afterwards the gratification to hear that the old gentleman, who lived to a very advanced age, mentioned it as one of the most memorable events of his life, that
"he was
very near
having that great man for his scholar."
He remained at Stourbridge little more than a year, and then returned home▪ where he may be said to have loitered, for two years, in a state very unworthy his uncommon abilities. He had already given several proofs of his poetical genius, both in his school-exercises and in other occasional compositions. Of these I have obtained a considerable collection, by the favour of Mr. Wentworth, son of one of his masters, and of Mr. Hector, his schoolfellow and friend; from which I select the following specimens:
Translation of
VIRGIL.
Pastoral
I.
MELIBAEUS.
NOW, Tityrus, you, supine and careless laid,
Play on your pipe beneath this beechen shade;
While wretched we about the world must roam,
And leave our pleasing fields and native home,
Here at your ease you sing your amorous flame,
And the wood rings with Amarillis' name.
TITYRUS.
Those blessings, friend, a deity bestow'd,
For I shall never think him less than God▪
Oft on his altar shall my firstlings lie,
Their blood the consecrated stones shall dye:
He gave my flocks to graze the flowery meads,
And me to tune at ease th' unequal reeds.
MELIBAEUS.
My admiration only I exprest,
(No spark of envy harbours in my breast)
That when confusion o'er the country reigns,
To you alone this happy state remains.
Here I, though faint myself, must drive my goats,
Far from their antient fields and humble cots.
This scarce I lead, who left on yonder rock
Two tender kids, the hopes of all the flock.
Had we not been perverse and careless grown,
This dire event by omens was foreshown;
Our trees were blasted by the thunder stroke,
And left-hand crows, from an old hollow oak,
Foretold the coming evil by their dismal croak.
Translation of
HORACE,
Book
I.
Ode
xxii.
THE man, my friend, whose conscious heart
With virtue's sacred ardour glows,
Nor taints with death the envenom'd dart,
Nor needs the guard of Moorish bows:
Though Scythia's icy cliffs he treads,
Or horrid Africk's faithless sands;
Or where the fam'd Hydaspes spreads
His liquid wealth o'er barbarous lands.
For while by Chloe's image charm'd,
Too far in Sabine woods I stray'd;
Me singing, careless and unarm'd,
A grizly wolf surprised, and fled.
No savage more portentous stain'd
Apulia's spacious wilds with gore;
None fiercer Juba's thirsty land,
Dire nurse of raging lions, bore.
Place me where no soft summer gale
Among the quivering branches sighs;
Where clouds condens'd for ever veil
With horrid gloom the frowning skies:
Place me beneath the burning line,
A clime deny'd to human race;
I'll sing of Chloe's charms divine,
Her heav'nly voice, and beauteous face.
Translation of
HORACE,
Book
II.
Ode
ix.
CLOUDS do not always veil the skies,
Nor showers immerse the verdant plain;
Nor do the billows always rise,
Or storms afflict the ruffled main.
Nor, Valgius, on th' Armenian shores
Do the chain'd waters always freeze;
Not always furious Boreas roars,
Or bends with violent force the trees.
But you are ever drown'd in tears,
For Mystes dead you ever mourn;
No setting Sol can ease your care,
But finds you sad at his return.
The wise experienc'd Grecian sage,
Mourn'd not Antilochus so long;
Nor did King Priam's hoary age
So much lament his slaughter'd son.
Leave off, at length, these woman's sighs,
Augustus' numerous trophies sing;
Repeat that prince's victories,
To whom all nations tribute bring.
Niphates rolls an humbler wave,
At length the undaunted Scythian yields,
Content to live the Romans' slave,
And scarce forsakes his native fields.
Translation of part of the Dialogue between
HECTOR
and
ANDROMACHE;
from the sixth Book of
HOMER'S ILIAD.
SHE ceas'd; then godlike Hector answer'd kind,—
(His various plumage sporting in the wind)
That post, and all the rest, shall be my care;
But shall I, then, forsake the unfinish'd war?
How would the Trojans brand great Hector's name!
And one base action sully all my fame,
Acquir'd by wounds, and battles bravely fought!
Oh! how my soul abhors so mean a thought.
Long since I learn'd to slight this fleeting breath,
And view▪ with cheerful eyes approaching death.
The inexorable sisters have decreed
That Priam's house, and Priam's self shall bleed:
The day will come, in which proud Troy shall yield,
And spread its smoking ruins o'er the field.
Yet Hecuba's, nor Priam's hoary age,
Whose blood shall quench some Grecian's thirsty rage,
Nor my brave brothers, that have bit the ground,
Their souls dismiss'd through many a ghastly wound,
Can in my bosom half that grief create,
As the sad thought of your impending fate:
When some proud Grecian dame shall tasks impose,
Mimick your tears, and ridicule your woes;
Beneath Hyperia's waters shall you sweat,
And, fainting, scarce support the liquid weight:
Then shall some Argive loud insulting cry,
Behold the wife of Hector, guard of Troy!
Tears, at my name, shall drown those beauteous eyes,
And that fair bosom heave with rising sighs!
Before that day, by some brave hero's hand,
May I lie slain, and spurn the bloody sand!
To a
YOUNG LADY
on her
BIRTH-DAY
Mr. Hector informs me, that this was made almost
impromptu,
in his presence.
.
THIS tributary verse receive, my fair,
Warm with an ardent lover's fondest pray'r.
May this returning day for ever find
Thy form more lovely, more adorn'd thy mind;
All pains, all cares, may favouring heav'n remove,
All but the sweet solicitudes of love!
May powerful nature join with grateful art,
To point each glance, and force it to the heart!
O then, when conquer'd crouds confess thy sway,
When even proud wealth and prouder wit obey,
My fair, be mindful of the mighty trust,
Alas! 'tis hard for beauty to be just.
Those sovereign charms with strictest care employ▪
Nor give the generous pain, the worthless joy:
With his own form acquaint the forward fool,
Shewn in the faithful glass of ridicule;
Teach mimick censure her own faults to find,
No more let conquets to themselves be blind,
So shall Belinda's charms improve mankind.
THE YOUNG AUTHOUR
This he inserted, with many alterations, in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1743.
.
WHEN first the peasant, long inclin'd to roam,
Forsakes his rural sports and peaceful home,
Pleas'd with the scene the smiling ocean yields,
He scorns the verdant meads and flow'ry fields;
Then dances jocund o'er the watery way,
While the breeze whispers, and the streamers play:
Unbounded prospects in his bosom roll,
And future millions lift his rising soul;
In blissful dreams he digs the golden mine,
And raptur'd sees the new-found ruby shine.
Joys insincere! thick clouds invade the skies,
Loud roar the billows, high the waves arise;
Sick'ning with fear, he longs to view the shore,
And vows to trust the faithless deep no more.
So the young Authour, panting after fame,
And the long honours of a lasting name,
Entrusts his happiness to human kind,
More false, more cruel, than the seas or wind.
"Toil on, dull croud, in extacies he cries,
For wealth or title, perishable prize;
While I those transitory blessings scorn,
Secure of praise from ages yet unborn."
This thought once form'd, all counsel comes too late,
He flies to press, and hurries on his fate;
Swiftly he sees the imagin'd laurels spread,
And feels the unfading wreath surround his head.
Warn'd by another's fate, vain youth, be wise,
Those dreams were Settle's once, and Ogilby's:
The pamphlet spreads, incessant hisses rise,
To some retreat the baffled writer flies;
Where no sour criticks snarl, no sneers molest,
Safe from the tart lampoon, and stinging jest;
There begs of heav'n a less distinguish'd lot,
Glad to be hid, and proud to be forgot.
EPILOGUE,
intended to have been spoken by a
LADY
who was to personate the Ghost of
HERMIONE
Some young ladies at Lichfield having proposed to act
"The Distressed Mother,"
Johnson wrote this, and gave it to Mr. Hector to convey it privately to them.
.
YE blooming train, who give despair or joy,
Bless with a smile, or with a frown destroy;
In whose fair cheeks destructive Cupids wait,
And with unerring shafts distribute fate;
Whose snowy breasts, whose animated eyes,
Each youth admires, though each admirer dies;
Whilst you deride their pangs in barb'rous play,
Unpitying see them weep, and hear them pray,
And unrelenting sport ten thousand lives away;
For you, ye fair, I quit the gloomy plains,
Where sable night in all her horrour reigns;
No fragrant bowers, no delightful glades,
Receive th' unhappy ghosts of scornful maids.
For kind, for tender nymphs the myrtle blooms,
And weaves her bending boughs in pleasing glooms;
Perennial roses deck each purple vale,
And scents ambrosial breathe in every gale:
Far hence are banish'd vapours, spleen, and tears,
Tea, scandal, ivory teeth, and languid airs;
No pug, nor favourite Cupid there enjoys
The balmy kiss, for which poor Thyrsis dies;
Form'd to delight, they use no foreign arms,
Nor torturing whalebones pinch them into charms;
No conscious blushes there their cheeks inflame,
For those who feel no guilt can know no shame;
Unfaded still their former charms they shew,
Around them pleasures wait, and joys for ever new.
But cruel virgins meet severer fates;
Expell'd and exil'd from the blissful seats,
To dismal realms, and regions void of peace,
Where furies ever howl, and serpents hiss.
O'er the sad plains perpetual tempests sigh;
And pois'nous vapours, black'ning all the sky,
With livid hue the fairest face o'ercast,
And every beauty withers at the blast:
Where e'er they fly their lover's ghosts pursue,
Inflicting all those ills which once they knew;
Vexation, Fury, Jealousy, Despair,
Vex ev'ry eye, and every bosom tear;
Their foul deformities by all descry'd,
No maid to flatter, and no paint to hide.
Then melt, ye fair, while crouds around you sigh,
Nor let disdain sit low'ring in your eye;
With pity soften every awful grace,
And beauty smile auspicious in each face;
To ease their pains exert your milder power,
So shall you guiltless reign, and all mankind adore.
The two years which he spent at home, after his return from Stourbridge, he passed in what he thought idleness, and was scolded by his father for his want of steady application. He had no settled plan of life, nor looked forward at all, but merely lived from day to day. Yet he read a great deal in a desultory manner, without any scheme of study, as chance threw books in his way, and inclination directed him through them. He used to mention one curious instance of his casual reading, when but a boy. Having imagined that his brother had hid some apples behind a large folio upon an upper shelf in his father's shop, he climbed up to search for them. There were no apples; but the large folio proved to be Petrarch, whom he had seen mentioned, in some preface, as one of the restorers of learning. His curiosity having been thus excited, he sat down with avidity, and read a great part of the book. What he read during these two years, he told me, was not works of mere amusement,
"not voyages and travels, but all literature, Sir, all ancient writers, all manly; though but little Greek, only some of Anacreon and Hesiod; but in this irregular manner (added he) I had looked into a great many books, which were not commonly known at the Universities, where they seldom read any books but what are put into their hands by their tutors; so that when I came to Oxford, Dr. Adams, master of Pembroke College, told me, I was the best qualified for the University that he had ever known come there."
In estimating the progress of his mind during these two years, as well as in future periods of his life, we must not regard his own hasty confession of idleness; for we see, when he explains himself, that he was acquiring various stores; and, indeed, he himself concluded the account, with saying,
"I would not have you think I was doing nothing then."
He might, perhaps, have studied more assiduously; but it may be doubted, whether such a mind as his was not more enriched by roaming at large in the fields of literature, than if it had been confined to any single spot. The analogy between body and mind is very general, and the parallel will hold as to their food, as well as any other particular. The flesh of animals who feed excursively, is allowed to have a higher flavour than that of those who are cooped up. May there not be the same difference between men who read as their taste prompts, and men who are confined in cells and colleges to stated tasks?
That a man in Mr. Michael Johnson's circumstances should think of sending his son to the expensive University of Oxford, at his own charge, seems very improbable. The subject was too delicate to question Johnson upon: But I have been assured by Dr. Taylor, that the scheme never would have taken place, had not a gentleman of Shropshire, one of his schoolfellows, spontaneously undertaken to support him at Oxford, in the character of his companion; though, in fact, he never received any assistance whatever from that gentleman.
He, however, went to Oxford, and was entered a Commoner of Pembroke College, on the 31st of October, 1728, being then in his nineteenth year.
The Reverend Dr. Adams, who afterwards presided over Pembroke College with universal esteem, told me he was present, and gave me some account of what passed on the night of Johnson's arrival at Oxford. On that evening, his father, who had anxiously accompanied him, found means to have him introduced to Mr. Jorden, who was to be his tutor. His being put under any tutor, reminds us of what Wood says of Robert Burton, authour of the
"Anatomy of Melancholy,"
when elected student of Christ Church;
"for form's sake,
though he wanted not a tutor,
he was put under the tuition of Dr. John Bancroft, afterwards Bishop of Oxon
Athen. Oxon. edit. 1721. p. 628.
."
His father seemed very full of the merits of his son, and told the company he was a good scholar, and a poet, and wrote Latin verses. His figure and manner appeared strange to them; but he behaved modestly, and sat silent, till upon something which occurred in the course of conversation, he suddenly struck in and quoted Macrobius; and thus he gave the first impression of that more extensive reading in which he had indulged himself.
His tutor, Mr. Jorden, fellow of Pembroke, was not, it seems, a man of such abilities as we should conceive requisite for the instructor of Samuel Johnson, who gave me the following account of him.
"He was a very worthy man, but a heavy man, and I did not profit much by his instructions. Indeed, I did not attend him much. The first day after I came to college, I waited upon him, and then staid away four. On the sixth, Mr. Jorden asked me why I had not attended. I answered, I had been sliding in Christ-Church meadow. And this I said with as much
non-chalance
as I am now
Oxford, 20th March, 1776.
talking to you. I had no notion that I was wrong or irreverent to my tutor."
BOSWELL.
"That, Sir, was great fortitude of mind."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir▪ stark insensibility
It ought to be remembered, that Dr. Johnson was apt, in his literary as well as moral exercises, to overcharge his defects. Dr. Adams informed me, that he attended his tutor's lectures, and also the lectures in the College Hall, very regularly.
."
The fifth of November was at that time kept with great solemnity at Pembroke College, and exercises upon the subject of the day were required. Johnson neglected to perform his, which is much to be regretted; for his vivacity of imagination, and force of language, would probably have produced something sublime upon the gunpowder plot. To apologise for his neglect, he gave in a short copy of verses, entitled
Somnium,
containing a common thought;
"that the Muse had come to him in his sleep, and whispered that it did not become him to write on such subjects as politicks; he should confine himself to humbler themes:"
but the versification was truly Virgilian.
He had a love and respect for Jorden, not for his literature, but for his worth.
"Whenever (said he) a young man becomes Jorden's pupil, he becomes his son."
Having given such a specimen of his poetical powers, he was asked by Mr. Jorden to translate Pope's Messiah into Latin verse, as a Christmas exercise. He performed it with uncommon rapidity, and in so masterly a manner, that he obtained great applause from it, which ever after kept him high in the estimation of his College, and, indeed, of all the University.
It is said, that Mr. Pope expressed himself concerning it in terms of strong approbation. Dr. Taylor told me, that it was first printed for old Mr. Johnson, without the knowledge of his son, who was very angry when he heard of it. A miscellany of Poems, collected by a person of the name of Husbands, was published at Oxford in 1731. In that miscellany Johnson's Translation of the Messiah appeared, with this modest motto from Scaliger's Poeticks,
"Ex alieno ingenio Poeta, ex suo tantum versificator."
I am not ignorant that critical objections have been made to this and other specimens of Johnson's Latin Poetry. I acknowledge myself not competent to decide on a question of such extreme nicety. But I am satisfied with the just and discriminative eulogy pronounced upon it by my friend Mr. Courtenay.
"And with like ease his vivid lines assume
"The garb and dignity of ancient Rome▪ —
"Let college
verse-men
trite conceits express,
"Trick'd out in splendid shreds of Virgil's dress;
"From playful Ovid cull the tinsel phrase,
"And vapid notions hitch in pilfer'd lays;
"Then with mosaick art the piece combine,
"And boast the glitter of each dulcet line:
"Johnson adventur'd boldly to transfuse
"His vigorous sense into the Latian muse;
"Aspir'd to shine by unreflected light,
"And with a Roman's ardour
think
and write.
"He felt the tuneful Nine his breast inspire,
"And, like a master, wak'd the soothing lyre:
"Horatian strains a grateful heart proclaim,
"While Sky's wild rocks resound his Thralia's name.—
"Hesperia's plant, in some less skilful hands,
"To bloom a while, factitious heat demands;
"Though glowing Maro a faint warmth supplies,
"The sickly blossom in the hot-house dies:
"By Johnson's genial culture, art, and toil,
"Its root strikes deep, and owns the fost'ring soil;
"Imbibes our sun through all its swelling veins,
"And grows a native of Britannia's plains
Poetical Review of the Literary and Moral Character of Dr. Johnson, by John Courtenay, Esq. M. P.
."
The
"morbid melancholy"
which was lurking in his constitution, and to which we may ascribe those particularities, and that aversion to regular life, which, at a very early period, marked his character, gathered such strength in his twentieth year, as to afflict him in a dreadful manner. While he was at Lichfield, in the College vacation of the year 1729, he felt himself overwhelmed with an horrible hypochondria, with perpetual irritation, fretfulness, and impatience; and with a dejection, gloom, and despair, which made existence misery. From this dismal malady he never afterwards was perfectly relieved; and all his labours, and all his enjoyments, were but temporary interruptions of its baleful influence. How wonderful, how unsearchable are the ways of GOD! Johnson, who was blest with all the powers of genius and understanding in a degree far above the ordinary state of human nature, was at the same time visited with a disorder so afflictive, that they who know it by dire experience, will not envy his exalted endowments. That it was, in some degree, occasioned by a defect in his nervous system, that inexplicable part of our frame, appears highly probable. He told Mr. Paradise that he was sometimes so languid and inefficient, that he could not distinguish the hour upon the town-clock.
Johnson, upon the first violent attack of this disorder, strove to overcome it by forcible exertions. He frequently walked to Birmingham and back again, and tried many other expedients, but all in vain. His expression concerning it to me was,
"I did not then know how to manage it."
His distress became so intolerable, that he applied to Dr. Swinfen, physician in Lichfield, his godfather, and put into his hands a state of his case, written in Latin. Dr. Swinfen was so much struck with the extraordinary acuteness, research, and eloquence of this paper, that in his zeal for his godson he shewed it to several people. His daughter, Mrs. Desmoulins, who was many years humanely supported in Dr. Johnson's house in London, told me, that upon his discovering that Dr. Swinfen had communicated his case, he was so much offended, that he was never afterwards fully reconciled to him. He indeed had good reason to be offended; for though Dr. Swinfen's motive was good, he inconsiderately betrayed a matter deeply interesting and of great delicacy, which had been entrusted to him in confidence; and exposed a complaint of his young friend and patient, which, in the superficial opinion of the generality of mankind, is attended with contempt and disgrace.
But let not little men triumph upon knowing that Johnson was an HYPOCHONDRIACK, was subject to what the learned, philosophical, and pious Dr. Cheyne has so well treated, under the title of
"The English Malady."
Though he suffered sev
ely from it, he was not therefore degraded. The powers of his great mind might be troubled, and their full exercise suspended at times, but the mind itself was ever entire. As a proof of this, it is only necessary to consider, that, when he was at the very worst, he composed that state of his own case, which shewed an uncommon vigour, not only of fancy and taste, but of judgement. I am aware that he himself was too ready to call such a complaint by the name of
madness;
in conformity with which notion, he has traced its gradations, with exquisite nicety, in one of the chapters of his RASSELAS. But there is surely a clear distinction between a disorder which affects only the imagination and spirits, while the judgement is sound, and a disorder by which the judgement itself is impaired. This distinction was made to me by the late Professor Gaubius of Leyden, physician to the Prince of Orange, in a conversation which I had with him several years ago, and he expanded it thus:
"If (said he) a man tells me that he is grievously disturbed, for that he
imagines
he sees a ruffian coming against him with a drawn sword, though at the same time he is
conscious
it is a delusion, I pronounce him to have a disordered imagination; but if a man tells me that he
sees
this, and in consternation calls to me to look at it, I pronounce him to be
mad."
It is a common effect of low spirits or melancholy, to make those who are afflicted with it imagine that they are actually suffering those evils which happen to be mo
rongly presented to their minds. Some have fancied themselves to be deprived of the use of their limbs, some to labour under acute diseases, others to be in extreme poverty, when, in truth, there was not the least reality in any of the suppositions; so that when the vapours were dispelled, they were convinced of the delusion. To Johnson, whose supreme enjoyment was the exercise of his reason, the disturbance or obscuration of that faculty was the evil most to be dreaded. Insanity, therefore, was the object of his most dismal apprehension; and he fancied himself seized by it, or approaching to it, at the very time when he was giving proofs of a more than ordinary soundness and vigour of judgement. That his own diseased imagination should have so far deceived him, is strange; but it is stranger still that some of his friends should have given credit to his groundless opinion, when they had such undoubted proofs that it was totally fallacious; though it is by no means surprising that those who wish to depreciate him, should, since his death, have laid hold of this circumstance, and insisted upon it with very unfair aggravation.
Amidst the oppression and distraction of a disease which very few have felt in its full extent, but many have experienced in a slighter degree, Johnson, in his writings, and in his conversation, never failed to display all the varieties of intellectual excellence. In his march through this world to a better, his mind still appeared grand and brilliant, and impressed all around him with the truth of Virgil's noble sentiment—
"Igneus est ollis vig
et caelestis origo."
The history of his mind as to religion is an important article. I have mentioned the early impressions made upon his tender imagination by his mother, who continued her pious care with assiduity, but, in his opinion, not with judgement.
"Sunday (said he) was a heavy day to me when I was a boy. My mother confined me on that day, and made me read 'The Whole Duty of Man,' from a great part of which I could derive no instruction. When, for instance, I had read the chapter on theft, which from my infancy I had been taught was wrong, I was no more convinced that theft was wrong than before; so there was no accession of knowledge. A boy should be introduced to such books, by having his attention directed to the arrangement, to the stile, and other excellencies of composition; that the mind being thus engaged by an amusing variety of objects, may not grow weary."
He communicated to me the following particulars upon the subject of his religious progress.
"I fell into an inattention to religion, or an indifference about it, in my ninth year. The church at Lichfield, in which we had a seat, wanted reparation, so I was to go and find a seat in other churches; and having bad eyes, and being aukward about this, I to go and read in the fields on Sunday. This habit continued till my fourteenth year; and still I find a great reluctance to go to church. I then became a sort of lax
talker
against religion, for I did not much
think
against it; and this lasted till I went to Oxford, where it would not be
suffered.
When at Oxford, I took up 'Law's Serious Call to the Unconverted,' expecting to find it a dull book, (as such books generally are,) and perhaps to laugh at it. But I found Law quite an overmatch for me; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion, after I became capable of rational inquiry
Mrs. Piozzi has given a strange fantastical account of the origin of Dr. Johnson's belief in our most holy religion.
"At the age of
ten
years his mind was disturbed by scruples of infidelity, which preyed upon his spirits, and made him very uneasy, the more so, as he revealed his uneasiness to none, being naturally (as he said) of a sullen temper, and reserved disposition. He searched, however, diligently, but fruitlessly, for evidences of the truth of revelation▪ and, at length,
recollecting
a book he had
once
seen
[I suppose at five years old]
in his father's shop, intitled
De veritate Religionis,
&c. he began to think himself
highly culpable
for neglecting such a means of information, and took himself severely to task for this
sin,
adding many acts of voluntary, and, to others, unknown
pennance.
The first opportunity which offered, of course, he seized the book with avidity; but, on examination,
not finding himself scholar enough to peruse its contents,
set his heart at rest; and not thinking to enquire whether there were any English books written on the subject, followed his usual amusements, and
considered his conscience as lightened of a crime.
He redoubled his diligence to learn the language that contained the information he most wished for; but from the pain which
guilt [namely, having omitted to read what he did not understand]
had given him, he now began to deduce the soul's immortality,
[a sensation of pain in this world being an unquestionable proof of existence in another]
which was the point that belief first stopped at;
and from that moment resolving to be a Christian,
became one of the most zealous and pious ones our nation ever produced."
Anecdotes, p. 17.
This is one of the numerous misrepresentations of this lively lady, which it is worth while to correct; for if credit should be given to such a childish, irrational, and ridiculous statement of the foundation of Dr. Johnson's faith in Christianity, how little credit would be due to it. Mrs. Piozzi seems to wish, that the world should think Dr. Johnson also under the influence of that easy logick,
Stet pro ratione voluntas.
."
From this time forward, religion was the predominant object of his thoughts; though, with the just sentiments of a conscientious christian, he lamented that his practice of its duties fell far short of what it ought to be.
This instance of a mind such as that of Johnson being first disposed, by an unexpected incident, to think with anxiety of the momentous concerns of eternity, and of
"what he should do to be saved,"
may for ever be produced in opposition to the superficial and sometimes profane contempt that has been thrown upon those occasional impressions which it is certain many christians have experienced; though it must be acknowledged that weak minds, from an erroneous supposition that no man is in a state of grace who has not felt a particular conversion, have, in some cases, brought a degree of ridicule upon them; a ridicule, of which it is inconsiderate or unfair to make a general application.
How seriously Johnson was impressed with a sense of religion, even in the vigour of his youth, appears from the following passage in his minutes kept by way of diary:
"Sept. 7, 1736. I have this day entered upon my 28th year. Mayest thou, O GOD, enable me, for JESUS CHRIST'S sake, to spend this in such a manner, that I may receive comfort from it at the hour of death, and in the day of judgement! Amen."
The particular course of his reading while at Oxford, and during the time of vacation which he passed at home, cannot be traced. Enough has been said of his irregular mode of study. He told me, that from his earliest years he loved to read poetry, but hardly ever read any poem to an end; that he read Shakspeare at a period so early, that the speech of the Ghost in Hamlet terrified him when he was alone; that Horace's Odes were the compositions in which he took most delight, and it was long before he liked his Epistles and Satires. He told me what he read
solidly
at Oxford was Greek; not the Grecian historians, but Homer and Euripides, and now and then a little Epigram; that the study of which he was most fond was Metaphysicks, but he had not read much, even in that way. I always thought that he did himself injustice in his account of what he had read, and that he must have been speaking with reference to the vast portion of study which is possible, and to which a few scholars in the whole history of literature have attained; for when I once asked him whether a person whose name I have now forgotten, studied hard, he answered
"No, Sir. I do not believe he studied hard. I never knew a man who studied hard. I conclude, indeed, from the effects, that some men have studied hard, as Bentley and Clarke."
Trying him by that criterion upon which he formed his judgement of others, we may be absolutely certain, both from his writings and his conversation, that his reading was very extensive. Dr. Adam Smith, than whom few are better judges on this subject, once observed to me that
"Johnson knew more books than any man alive."
He had a peculiar facility in seizing at once what was valuable in any book, without submitting to the labour of perusing it from beginning to end. He had, from the irritability of his constitution, at all times, an impatience and hurry when he either read or wrote. A certain apprehension, arising from novelty, made him write his first exercise at College twice over; but he never took that trouble with any other composition; and we shall see that his most excellent works were struck off at a heat, with rapid exertion.
Yet he appears, from his early notes or memorandums, in my possession, to have at various times attempted, or at least planned, a methodical course of study, according to computation, of which he was all his life fond, as it fixed his attention steadily upon something without, and prevented his mind from preying upon itself. Thus I find in his hand-writing the number of lines in each of two of Euripides's Tragedies, of the Georgicks of Virgil, of the first six books of the Aeneid, of Horace's Art of Poetry, of three of the books of Ovid's Metamorphosis, of some parts of Theocritus, and of the tenth Satire of Juvenal; and a table, shewing at the rate of various numbers day, (I suppose verses to be read) what would be, in each case, the tota amount in a week, month, and year.
No man had a more ardent love of literature, or a higher respect for it than Johnson. His apartment in Pembroke College was that upon the second floor, over the gateway. The enthusiasts of learning will ever contemplate it with veneration. One day, while he was sitting in it quite alone, Dr. Panting then master of the College, whom he called
"a fine Jacobite fellow,"
overheard him uttering this soliloquy in his strong emphatick voice:
"Well, I have a mind to see what is done in other places of learning. I'll go and visit the Universities abroad. I'll go to France and Italy. I'll go to Padua.—And I'll mind my business. For an
Athenian
blockhead is the worst of all blockheads
I had this anecdote from Dr. Adams, and Dr. Johnson confirmed it. Bramston, in his
"Man of Taste,"
has the same thought:
"Sure, of all blockheads, scholars are the worst."
."
Dr. Adams told me, that Johnson, while he was at Pembroke College,
"was caressed and loved by all about him, was a gay and frolicksome fellow, and passed there the happiest part of his life."
But this is a striking proof of the fallacy of appearances, and how little any of us know of the real internal state even of those whom we see most frequently; for the truth is, that he was then depressed by poverty, and irritated by disease. When I mentioned to him this account as given me by Dr. Adams, he said,
"Ah, Sir, I was mad and violent. It was bitterness which they mistook for frolick. I was miserably poor, and I thought to fight my way by my literature and my wit; so I disregarded all power and all authority."
The Bishop of Dromore observes in a letter to me,
"The pleasure he took in vexing the tutors and fellows has been often mentioned. But I have heard him say, what ought to be recorded to the honour of the present venerable master of that College, the Reverend William Adams, D. D. who was then very young, and one of the junior fellows; that the mild but judicious expostulations of this worthy man, whose virtue awed him, and whose learning he revered, made him really ashamed of himself, 'though I fear (said he) I was too proud to own it.'
"I have heard from some of his cotemporaries that he was generally seen lounging at the College gate, with a circle of young students round him, whom he was entertaining with wit, and keeping from their studies, if not spiriting them up to rebellion against the College discipline, which in his
maturer years he so much extolled."
He very early began to attempt keeping notes or memorandums, by way of a diary of his life. I find, in a parcel of loose leaves, the following spirited resolution to contend against his natural indolence:
"Oct.
1729.
Desidiae valedixi; syrenis istius cantibus surdam posthac aurem obversurus.
—I bid farewell to Sloth, being resolved henceforth not to listen to her syren strains."
I have also in my possession a few leaves of another
Libellus,
or little book, entitled ANNALES, in which some of the early particulars of his history are registered in Latin.
I do not find that he formed any close intimacies with his fellow-collegians. But Dr. Adams told me, that he contracted a love and regard for Pembroke College, which he retained to the last. A short time before his death he sent to that College a present of all his works, to be deposited in their library, and he had thoughts of leaving to it his house at Lichfield; but his friends who were about him very properly dissuaded him from it, and he bequeathed it to some poor relations. He took a pleasure in boasting of the many eminent men who had been educated at Pembroke. In this list are found the names of Spenser, Mr. Hawkins the Poetry Professor, Mr. Shenstone, Sir William Blackstone, and others
See Nash's History of Worcestershire, Vol. I. p. 529.
, not forgetting the celebrated popular preacher, Mr. George Whitefield, of whom, though Dr. Johnson did not think very highly, it must be acknowledged that his eloquence was powerful, his views pious and charitable, his assiduity almost incredible; and, that since his death, the integrity of his character has been fully vindicated. Being himself a poet, Johnson was peculiarly happy in mentioning how many of the sons of Pembroke were poets; adding, with a smile of sportive triumph,
"Sir, we are a nest of singing birds."
He was not, however, blind to what he thought the defects of his own College; and I have, from the information of Dr. Taylor, a very strong instance of that rigid honesty which he ever inflexibly preserved. Taylor had obtained his father's consent to be entered of Pembroke, that he might be with his schoolfellow Johnson, with whom, though some years older than himself, he was very intimate. This would have been a great comfort to Johnson. But he fairly told Taylor that he could not, in conscience, suffer him to enter where he knew he could not have an able tutor. He then made inquiry all round the University, and having found that Mr. Bateman, of Christ-Church, was the tutor of highest reputation, Taylor was entered of that College. Mr. Bateman's lectures were so excellent, that Johnson used to come and get-them at second-hand from Taylor, till his poverty being so extreme, that his shoes were worn out, and his feet appeared through them, he saw that this humiliating circumstance was perceived by the Christ-churchmen, and he came no more. He was too proud to accept of money, and somebody having set a pair of new shoes at his door, he threw them away with indignation. How must we feel when we read such an anecdote of Samuel Johnson!
His spirited refusal of an eleemosynary supply of shoes, arose, no doubt, from a proper pride. But, considering his ascetick disposition at times, as acknowledged by himself in his Meditations, and the exaggeration with which some have treated the peculiarities of his character, I should not wonder to hear it ascribed to a principle of superstitious mortification; as we are told by Tursellinus, in his Life of St. Ignatius Loyola, that this intrepid founder of the order of Jesuits, when he arrived at Goa, after having made a severe pilgrimage through the eastern deserts, persisted in wearing his miserable shattered shoes, and when new ones were offered him, rejected them as an unsuitable indulgence.
The
res angusta domi
prevented him from having the advantage of a complete academical education. The friend to whom he had trusted for support had deceived him. His debts in College, though not great, were increasing; and his scanty remittances from Lichfield, which had all along been made with great difficulty, could be supplied no longer, his father having fallen into a state of insolvency. Compelled, therefore, by irresistible necessity, he left the College in autumn, 1731, without a degree, having been a member of it little more than three years.
Dr. Adams, the worthy and respectable master of Pembroke College, has generally had the reputation of being Johnson's tutor. The fact, however, is, that in 1731 Mr. Jorden quitted the College, and his pupils were transferred to Dr. Adams; so that had Johnson returned, Dr. Adams
would have been his tutor.
It is to be wished, that this connection had taken place. His equal temper, mild disposition, and politeness of manners, might have insensibly softened the harshness of Johnson, and infused into him those more delicate charities, that
petite morale,
in which, it must be confessed, our great moralist was more deficient than his best friends could fully justify. Dr. Adams paid Johnson this high compliment. He said to me at Oxford, in 1776,
"I was his nominal tutor, but he was above my mark."
When I repeated it to Johnson, his eyes flashed with grateful satisfaction, and he exclaimed,
"That was liberal and noble."
And now (I had almost said
poor)
Samuel Johnson returned to his native city, destitute, and not knowing how he should gain even a decent livelihood. His father's misfortunes in trade rendered him unable to support his son; and for some time there appeared no means by which he could maintain himself. In the December of this year his father died.
The state of poverty in which he died, appears from a note in one of Johnson's little diaries of the following year, which strongly displays his spirit and virtuous dignity of mind.
"1732,
Julii
15.
Undecim aureos deposui, quo die quicquid ante matris funus (quod serum sit precor) de paternis bonis sperari licet, viginti scilicet libras accepi. Usque adeo mihi fortuna fingenda est. Interea, ne paupertate vires animi languescant, nec in flagitia egestas abigat, cavendum.
—I layed by eleven guineas on this day, when I received twenty pounds, being all that I have reason to hope for out of my father's effects, previous to the death of my mother; an event which I pray GOD may be very remote. I now, therefore, see that I must make my own fortune. Meanwhile, let me take care that the powers of my mind may not be debilitated by poverty, and that indigence do not force me into any criminal act."
Johnson was so far fortunate, that the respectable character of his parents, and his own merit, had, from his earliest years, secured him a kind reception in the best families at Lichfield. Among these I can mention Mr. Howard, Dr. Swinfen, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Levett, Captain Garrick, father of the great ornament of the British stage; but above all, Mr. Gilbert Walmsley
Mr. Warton informs me,
"that this early friend of Johnson was entered a Commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, aged 17, in 1698; and is the authour of many Latin verse translations in the Gentleman's Magazine.
One of them is a translation of
"My time, O ye Muses, was happily spent, &c."
, Register of the Prerogative Court of Lichfield, whose character, long after his decease, Dr. Johnson has, in his life of Edmund Smith, thus drawn in the glowing colours of gratitude:
Of Gilbert Walmsley, thus presented to my mind, let me indulge myself in the remembrance. I knew him very early; he was one of the first friends that literature procured me, and I hope that, at least, my gratitude made me worthy of his notice.
He was of an advanced age, and I was only not a boy; yet he never received my notions with contempt. He was a whig, with all the virulence and malevolence of his party; yet difference of opinion did not keep us apart. I honoured him, and he endured me.
He had mingled with the gay world without exemption from its vices or its follies; but had never neglected the cultivation of his mind. His belief of revelation was unshaken; his learning preserved his principles; he grew first regular, and then pious.
His studies had been so various, that I am not able to name a man of equal knowledge. His acquaintance with books was great, and what he did not immediately know, he could, at least, tell where to find. Such was his amplitude of learning, and such his copiousness of communication, that it may be doubted whether a day now passes, in which I have not some advantage from his friendship.
At this man's table I enjoyed many cheerful and instructive hours, with companions, such as are not often found—with one who has lengthened, and one who has gladdened life; with Dr. James, whose skill in physick will be long remembered; and with David Garrick, whom I hoped to have gratified with this character of our common friend. But what are the hopes of man! I am disappointed by that stroke of death, which has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the publick stock of harmless pleasure.
In these families he passed much time in his early years. In most of them, he was in the company of ladies, particularly at Mr. Walmsley's, whose wife and sisters-in-law, of the name of Aston, and daughters of a baronet, were remarkable for good breeding; so that the notion which has been industriously circulated and believed, that he never was in good company till late in life, and, consequently, had been confirmed in coarse and ferocious manners by long habits, is wholly without foundation. Some of the ladies have assured me, they recollected him well when a young man, as distinguished for his complaisance.
And that this politeness was not merely occasional and temporary, or confined to the circles of Lichfield, is ascertained by the testimony of a lady, who, in a paper with which I have been favoured by a daughter of his intimate friend and physician, Dr. Lawrence, thus describes Dr. Johnson some years afterwards:
As the particulars of the former part of Dr. Johnson's life do not seem to be very accurately known, a lady hopes that the following information may not be unacceptable.
She remembers Dr. Johnson on a visit to Dr. Taylor, at Ashbourn, some time between the end of the year 37, and the middle of the year 40; she rather thinks it to have been after he and his wife were removed to London.
During his stay at Ashbourn, he made frequent visits to Mr. Meynell, at Brodley, where his company was much desired by the ladies of the family, who were, perhaps, in point of elegance and accomplishments, inferiour to few of those with whom he was afterwards acquainted. Mr. Meynell's eldest daughter was afterwards married to Mr. Fitzherbert, father to Mr. Alleyne Fitzherbert, lately minister to the court of Russia. Of her, Dr. Johnson said, in Dr. Lawrence's study, that she had the best understanding he ever met with in any human being. At Mr. Meynell's he also commenced that friendship with Mrs. Hill Boothby, sister to the present Sir Brook Boothby, which continued till her death. The
young woman whom he used to call Molly Aston
The words of Sir John Hawkins, p. 316.
, was sister to Sir Thomas Aston, and daughter to a Baronet; she was likewise sister to the wife of his friend Mr. Gilbert Walmsley. Besides his intimacy with the above-mentioned persons, who were surely people of rank and education, while he was yet at Lichfield he used to be frequently at the house of Dr. Swinfen, a gentleman of a very ancient family in Staffordshire, from which, after the death of his elder brother, he inherited a good estate. He was, besides, a physician of very extensive practice; but for want of due attention to the management of his domestic concerns, left a very large family in indigence. One of his daughters, Mrs. Desmoulins, afterwards found an asylum in the house of her old friend, whose doors were always open to the unfortunate, and who well observed the precept of the gospel, for he was kind to the unthankful and to the evil.
In the sorlorn state of his circumstances he accepted of an offer to be employed as usher in the school of Market-Bosworth, in Leicestershire, to which it appears, from one of his little fragments of a diary, that he went on foot, on the 16th of July,—
"Julii
16.
Bosvortiam pedes petii."
But it is not true, as has been erroneously related, that he was assistant to the famous Anthony Blackwall, whose merit has been honoured by the testimony of Bishop Hurd, who was his scholar; for Mr. Blackwall died on the 8th of April, 1730
See Gent. Mag. Dec. 1784, p. 957.
, more than a year before Johnson left the University.
This employment was very irksome to him in every respect, and he complained grievously of it in his letters to his friend Mr. Hector, who was now settled as a surgeon at Birmingham. The letters are lost; but Mr. Hector recollects his writing
"that the poet had described the dull sameness of his existence in these words,
'Vitam continet una dies'
(one day contains the whole
of my life); that it was unvaried as the note of the cuckow; and that he did not know whether it was more disagreeable for him to teach, or the boys to learn, the grammar rules."
His general aversion to this painful drudgery was greatly enhanced by a disagreement between him and Sir Woolston Dixey, the patron of the school, in whose house, I have been told, he officiated as a kind of domestick chaplain, so far, at least, as to say grace at table, but was treated with what he represented as intolerable harshness; and, after suffering for a few months such complicated misery, he relinquished a situation which all his life afterwards he recollected with the strongest aversion, and even a degree of horrour. But it is probable that at this period, whatever uneasiness he may have endured, he laid the foundation of much future eminence by application to his studies.
Being now again totally unoccupied, he was invited by Mr. Hector to pass some time with him at Birmingham, as his guest, at the house of Mr. Warren, with whom Mr. Hector lodged and boarded. Mr. Warren was the first established bookseller in Birmingham, and was very attentive to Johnson, who he soon found could be of much service to him in his trade, by his knowledge of literature; and he even obtained the assistance of his pen in furnishing some numbers of a periodical Essay printed in the newspaper, of which Warren was proprietor. After very diligent inquiry, I have not been able to recover those early specimens of that particular mode of writing by which Johnson afterwards so greatly distinguished himself.
He continued to live as Mr. Hector's guest for about six months, and then hired lodgings in another part of the town, finding himself as well situated at Birmingham as he supposed he could be any where, while he had no settled plan of life, and very scanty means of subsistence. He made some valuable acquaintances there, amongst whom were Mr. Porter, a mercer, whose widow he afterwards married, and Mr. Taylor, who by his ingenuity in mechanical inventions, and his success in trade, acquired an immense fortune. But the comfort of being near Mr. Hector, his old schoolfellow and intimate friend, was Johnson's chief inducement to continue here.
In what manner he employed his pen at this period, or whether he derived from it any pecuniary advantage, I have not been able to ascertain. He probably got a little money from Mr. Warren; and we are certain, that he executed here one piece of literary labour, of which Mr. Hector has favoured me with a minute account. Having mentioned that he had read at Pembroke College a Voyage to Abyssinia, by Lobo, a Portuguese jesuit, and that he thought an abridgement and translation of it from the French into English might be an useful and profitable publication, Mr. Warren and Mr. Hector joined in urging him to undertake it. He accordingly agreed; and the book not being to be found in Birmingham, he borrowed it of Pembroke College. A part of the work being very soon done, one Osborn, who was Mr. Warren's printer, was set to work with what was ready, and Johnson engaged to supply the press with copy as it should be wanted; but his constitutional indolence soon prevailed, and the work was at a stand. Mr. Hector, who knew that a motive of humanity would be the most prevailing argument with his friend, went to Johnson, and represented to him, that the printer could have no other employment till this undertaking was finished, and that the poor man and his family were suffering. Johnson upon this exerted the powers of his mind, though his body was relaxed. He lay in bed with the book, which was a quarto, before him, and dictated while Hector wrote. Mr. Hector carried the sheets to the press▪ and corrected almost all the proof sheets, very few of which were even seen by Johnson. In this manner, with the aid of Mr. Hector's active friendship, the book was completed, and was published in 1735, with LONDON upon the title-page, though it was in reality printed at Birmingham, a device too common with provincial publishers. For this work he had from Mr. Warren only the sum of five guineas.
This being the first prose work of Johnson, it is a curious object of inquiry how much may be traced in it of that style which marks his subsequent writings with such peculiar excellence; with so happy an union of force, vivacity, and perspicuity. I have perused the book with this view, and have found that here, as I believe in every other translation, there is in the work itself no vestige of the translator's own style; for the language of translation being adapted to the thoughts of another person, insensibly follows their cast, and, as it were, runs into a mould that is ready prepared.
Thus, for instance, taking the first sentence that occurs at the opening of the book, p. 4.
"I lived here above a year, and completed my studies in divinity; in which time some letters were received from the fathers in Ethiopia, with an account that Sultan Segned, Emperour of Abyssinia, was converted to the church of Rome; that many of his subjects had followed his example, and that there was a great want of missionaries to improve these prosperous beginnings. Every body was very desirous of seconding the zeal of our fathers, and of sending them the assistance they requested; to which we were the more encouraged, because the Emperour's letter informed our Provincial, that we might easily enter his dominions by the way of Dancala; but▪ unhappily, the secretary wrote Geila for Dancala, which cost two of our fathers their lives."
Every one acquainted with Johnson's manner will be sensible that there is nothing of it here, but that this sentence might have been composed by any other man.
But, in the Preface, the Johnsonian style begins to appear; and though use had not yet taught his wing a permanent and equable flight, there are parts of it which exhibit his best manner in full vigour. I had once the pleasure of examining it with Mr. Edmund Burke, who confirmed me in this opinion, by his superious critical sagacity, and was, I remember, much delighted with the following specimen:
The Portuguese traveller, contrary to the general vein of his countrymen, has amused his reader with no romantick absurdity, or incredible fictions; whatever he relates, whether true or not, is at least probable; and he who tells nothing exceeding the bounds of probability, has a right to demand that they should believe him who cannot contradict him.
He appears, by his modest and unaffected narration, to have described things as he saw them, to have copied nature from-the life, and to have consulted his senses, not his imagination. He meets with no basilisks that destroy with their eyes, his crocodiles devour their prey without tears, and his cataracts fall from the rocks without deafening the neighbouring inhabitants.
The reader will here find no regions cursed with irremediable barrenness, or blessed with spontaneous fecundity; no perpetual gloom, or unceasing sunshine; nor are the nations here described either devoid of all sense of humanity, or consummate in all private or social virtues. Here are no Hottentots without religious polity or articulate language; no Chinese perfectly polite, and completely skilled in all sciences; he will discover, what will always be discovered by a diligent and impartial enquirer, that wherever human nature is to be found, there is a mixture of vice and virtue, a contest of passion and reason; and that the Creator doth not appear partial in his distributions, but has balanced, in most countries, their particular inconveniencies by particular favours.
Here we have an early example of that brilliant and energetick expression, which, upon innumerable occasions in his subsequent life, justly impressed the world with the highest admiration.
Nor can any one, conversant with the writings of Johnson, fail to discern his hand in this passage of the Dedication to John Warren, Esq. of Pembrokeshire, though it is ascribed to Warren the bookseller.
"A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity; nor is that curiosity ever more agreeably or usefully employed,
than in examining the laws and customs of foreign nations. I hope, therefore, the present I now presume to make, will not be thought improper; which, however, it is not my business as a dedicator to commend, nor as a bookseller to depreciate."
It is reasonable to suppose, that his having been thus accidentally led to a particular study of the history and manners of Abyssinia, was the remote occasion of his writing, many years afterwards, his admirable philosophical tale, the principal scene of which is laid in that country.
Johnson returned to Lichfield early in 1734, and in August that year he made an attempt to procure some little subsistence by his pen; for he published proposals for printing by subscription the Latin poems of Politian:
"Angeli Politiani Poemata Latina, quibus, Notas, cum historiâ Latinae poeseos, à Petrarchae aevo ad Politiani tempora deductâ, et vitâ Politiani fusius quam antihac enarratâ, addidit
SAM. JOHNSON
The book was to contain more than thirty sheets, the price to be two shillings and six-pen
▪ at the time of subscribing, and two shillings and six-pence at the delivery of a perfect book i
quires.
."
It appears that his brother Nathanael had taken up his father's trade; for it is mentioned, that
"subscriptions are taken in by the Editor, or N. Johnson, bookseller, of Lichfield,"
Notwithstanding the merit of Johnson, and the cheap price at which this translation, with its accompanyments, was offered, there were not subscribers enough to insure a sufficient sale; so the work never appeared, and, probably, never was executed.
We find him again this year at Birmingham, and there is preserved the following letter from him to Mr. Edward Cave
Miss Cave, the Grand-niece of Mr. Edward Cave, has obligingly shewn me the originals of this and the other letters of Dr Johnson, to him, which were first published in the Gentleman's Magazine, with notes by Mr. John Nichols, the worthy and indefatigable editor of that valuable miscellany, signed N; some of which I shall occasionally transcribe in the course of this work.
, the original compiler and editor of the Gentleman's Magazine:
To Mr.
CAVE.
SIR,
Nov. 25, 1734.
AS you appear no less sensible than your readers of the defects of your poetical article, you will not be displeased, if, in order to the improvement of it, I communicate to you the sentiments of a person, who will undertake, on reasonable terms, sometimes to fill a column.
His opinion is, that the publick would not give you a bad reception, if, beside the current wit of the month, which a critical examination would generally reduce to a narrow compass, you admitted not only poems, inscriptions, &c. never printed before, which he will sometimes supply you with; but likewise short literary dissertations in Latin or English, critical remarks on authours ancient or modern, forgotten poems that deserve revival, or loose pieces, like Floyer's, worth preserving. By this method your literary article, for so it might be called, will, he thinks, be better recommended to the publick, than by low jests, aukward buffoonery, or the dull scurrilities of either party.
If such a correspondence will be agreeable to you, be pleased to inform me in two posts, what the conditions are on which you shall expect it. Your late offer
A prize of fifty pounds for the best poem
"on Life, Death, Judgement, Heaven, and Hell."
See Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. IV. p. 560. N.
gives me no reason to distrust your generosity. If you engage in any literary projects besides this paper, I have other designs to impart, if I could be secure from having others reap the advantage of what I should hint.
Your letter, by being directed to
S. Smith,
to be left at the Castle in Birmingham, Warwickshire, will reach
Your humble servant.
Mr. Cave has put a note on this letter,
"Answered Dec. 2."
But whether any thing was done in consequence of it we are not informed.
Johnson had, from his early youth, been sensible to the influence of female charms. When at Stourbridge school, he was much enamoured of Olivia Lloyd, a young quaker, to whom he wrote a copy of verses, which I have not been able to recover; and I am assured by Miss Seward, that he conceived a tender passion for Miss Lucy Porter, daughter of the lady whom he afterwards married. Miss Porter was sent very young on a visit to Lichfield, where Johnson had frequent opportunities of seeing and admiring her; and he addressed to her the following verses, on her presenting him with a nosegay of myrtle:
"What hopes, what terrors does thy gift create,
"Ambiguous emblem of uncertain fate:
"The myrtle, ensign of supreme command,
"Consign'd by Venus to Melissa's hand;
"Not less capricious than a reigning fair,
"Now grants, and now rejects a lover's prayer.
"In myrtle shades oft sings the happy swain,
"In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain;
"The myrtle crowns the happy lovers' heads,
"The unhappy lovers' grave the myrtle spreads:
"O then the meaning of thy gift impart,
"And ease the throbbings of an anxious heart!
"Soon must this bough, as you shall fix his doom,
"Adorn Philander's head, or grace his tomb
Mrs. Piozzi, in her
"Anecdotes,"
asserts that Johnson wrote this effusion of elegant tenderness not in his own person, but for a friend who was in love. But that lively lady is an inaccurate in this instance as in many others; for Miss Seward writes to me—
"I know
those verses were addressed to Lucy Porter, when he was enamoured of her in his boyish days, two or three years before he had seen her mother, his future wife. He wrote them at my grandfather's, and gave them to Lucy in the presence of my mother, to whom he shewed them on the instant. She used to repeat them to me, when I asked her for
the verses Dr. Johnson gave her on a sprig of myrtle, which he had stolen or begged from her bosom.
We all know honest Lucy Porter to have been incapable of the mean vanity of applying to herself a compliment not
intended
for her."
.
His juvenile attachments to the fair sex were, however, very transient; and it is certain, that he formed no criminal connection whatsoever. Mr. Hector, who lived with him in his younger days in the utmost intimacy and social freedom, has assured me, that even at that ardent season his conduct was strictly virtuous in that respect▪ and that though he loved to exhilarate himself with wine, he never knew him intoxicated but once.
In a man whom religious education has secured from licentious indulgences, the passion of love, when once it has seized him, is exceedingly strong; being unimpaired by dissipation, and totally concentrated in one object. This was experienced by Johnson▪ when he became the servent admirer of Mrs. Porter, after her first husband's death. Miss Porter told me, that when he was first introduced to her mother, his appearance was very forbidding: He was then lean and lank, so that his immense structure of bones was hideously striking to the eye, and the scars of the scrophula were deeply visible. He also wore his hair, which was straight and stiff, and separated behind; and he often had, seemingly, convulsive starts and odd gesticulations, which tended to excite at once surprise and ridicule. Mrs. Porter was so much engaged by his conversation that she overlooked all these external disadvantages, and said to her daughter,
"this is the most sensible man that I ever saw in my life."
Though Mrs. Porter was double the age of Johnson, and her person and manner, as described to me by the late Mr. Garrick, were by no means pleasing to others, she must have had a superiority of understanding and talents, as she certainly inspired him with a more than ordinary passion; and she having signified her willingness to accept of his hand, he went to Lichfield to ask his mother's consent to the marriage, which he could not but be conscious was a very imprudent scheme, both on account of their disparity of years, and her want of fortune. But Mrs. Johnson knew too well the ardour of her son's temper, and was too tender a parent to oppose his inclinations.
I know not for what reason the marriage ceremony was not performed at Birmingham; but a resolution was taken that it should be at Derby, for which place the bride and bridegroom set out on horseback, I suppose in very good humour. But though Mr. Topham Beauclerk used archly to mention Johnson's having told him, with much gravity,
"Sir, it was a love-marriage upon both sides,"
I have had from my illustrious friend the following curious
9th July.
account of their journey to church upon the nuptial morn.
"Sir, she had read the old romances, and had got into her head the fantastical notion that a woman of spirit should use her lover like a dog. So, Sir, at first she told me that I rode too fast, and she could not keep up with me; and, when I rode a little slower, she passed me, and complained that I lagged behind. I was not to be made the slave of caprice; and I resolved to begin as I meant to end. I therefore pushed on briskly, till I was fairly out of her sight. The road lay between two hedges, so I was sure she could not miss it; and I contrived that she should soon come up with me. When she did, I observed her to be in tears."
This, it must be allowed, was a singular beginning of connubial felicity; but there is no doubt that Johnson, though he thus shewed a manly firmness, proved a most affectionate and indulgent husband to the last moment of Mrs. Johnson's life; and in his
"Prayers and Meditations,"
we find very remarkable evidence that his regard and fondness for her never ceased, even after her death.
He now set up a private academy, for which purpose he hired a large house, well situated near his native city. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1736, there is the following advertisement:
"At Edial, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, young gentlemen are boarded and taught the Latin and Greek languages, by SAMUEL JOHNSON."
But the only pupils that were put under his care were the celebrated David Garrick and his brother George, and a Mr. Offely, a young gentleman of good fortune, who died early. As yet, his name had nothing of that celebrity which afterwards commanded the highest attention and respect of mankind. Had such an advertisement appeared after the publication of his LONDON, or his RAMBLER, or his DICTIONARY, how would it have burst upon the world! with what eagerness would the great and the wealthy have embraced an opportunity of putting their sons under the learned tuition of SAMUEL JOHNSON. The truth, however, is, that he was not so well qualified for being a teacher of elements, and a conductor in learning by regular gradations, as men of inferiour powers of mind. His own acquisitions had been made by fits and starts, by violent irruptions into the regions of knowledge; and it could not be expected that his impatience would be subdued, and his impetuosity restrained, so as to fit him for a quiet guide to novices. The art of communicating instruction, of whatever kind, is much to be valued; and I have ever thought that those who devote themselves to this employment, and do their duty with diligence and success, are entitled to very high respect from the community, as Johnson himself often maintained. Yet I am of opinion, that the greatest abilities are not only not required for this office, but render a man less fit for it.
While we acknowledge the justness of Thomson's beautiful remark,
"Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,
"And teach the young idea how to shoot!"
we must consider that this delight is perceptible only by
"a mind at ease,"
a mind at once calm and clear; but that a mind gloomy and impetuous like that of Johnson, cannot be fixed for any length of time in minute attention, and must be so frequently irritated by unavoidable slowness and errour in the advances of scholars, as to perform the duty with little pleasure to the teacher, and no great advantage to the pupils. Good temper is a most essential requisite in a preceptor. Horace paints the character as
bland:
"—Ut pueris olim dant crustula
blandi
"Doctores, elementa velint ut discere prima."
Johnson was not more satisfied with his situation as the master of an academy, than with that of the usher of a school; we need not wonder, therefore, that he did not keep his academy above a year and a half. From Mr. Garrick's account he did not appear to have been profoundly reverenced by his pupils. His oddities of manner, and uncouth gesticulations, could not but be the subject of merriment to them; and, in particular, the young rogues used to listen at the door of his bed-chamber, and peep through the key-hole, that they might turn into ridicule his tumultuous and aukward fondness for Mrs. Johnson, whom he used to name by the familiar appellation of
Tetty
or
Tetsy,
which, like
Betty
or
Betsy,
is provincially used as a contraction for
Elizabeth,
her christian name, but which to us seems ludicrous, when applied to a woman of her age and appearance. Mr. Garrick described her to me as very fat, with a bosom of more than ordinary protuberance, with swelled cheeks, of a florid red, produced by thick painting, and increased by the liberal use of cordials; flaring and fantastick in her dress, and affected both in her speech and her general behaviour. I have seen Garrick exhibit her, by his exquisite talent for mimickry, so as to excite the heartiest bursts of laughter; but he, probably, as is the case in all such representations, considerably aggravated the picture.
That Johnson well knew the most proper course to be pursued in the instruction of youth, is authentically ascertained by the following paper in his own hand-writing, given about this period to a relation, and now in the possession of Mr. John Nichols:
SCHEME
for the
CLASSES
of a
GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
WHEN the introduction, or formation of nouns and verbs, is perfectly mastered, let them learn
Corderius by Mr. Clarke, beginning at the same time to translate out of the introduction, that by this means they may learn the syntax. Then let them proceed to
Erasmus, with an English translation, by the same authour.
Class II. Learns Eutropius and Cornelius Nepos, or Justin, with the translation.
N. B. The first class gets for their part every morning the rules which they have learned before, and in the afternoon learns the Latin rules of the nouns and verbs.
They are examined in the rules which they have learned every Thursday and Saturday.
The second class doth the same whilst they are in Eutropius; afterwards their part is in the irregular nouns and verbs, and in the rules for making and scanning verses. They are examined as the first.
Class III. Ovid's Metamorphoses in the morning, and Caesar's Commentaries in the afternoon.
Practise in the Latin rules till they are perfect in them, afterwards in Mr. Leeds's Greek Grammar. Examined as before.
Afterwards they proceed to Virgil, beginning at the same time to write themes and verses, and to learn Greek; from thence passing on to Horace, &c. as shall seem most proper.
I know not well what books to direct you to, because you have not informed me what study you will apply yourself to. I believe it will be most for your advantage to apply yourself wholly to the languages, till you go to the University. The Greek authours I think it best for you to read are these:
Cebes.
Aelian. Attick.
Lucian by Leeds. Attick.
Xenophon. Attick.
Homer. Ionick.
Theocritus. Dorick.
Euripides. Attick and Dorick.
Thus you will be tolerably skilled in all the dialects, beginning with the Attick, to which the rest must be referred.
In the study of Latin, it is proper not to read the latter authours, till you are well versed in those of the purest ages; as, Terence, Tully, Caesar, Sallust, Nepos, Velleius Paterculus, Virgil, Horace, Phaedrus.
The greatest and most necessary task still remains, to attain a habit of expression, without which knowledge is of little use. This is necessary in Latin, and more necessary in English; and can only be acquired by a daily imitation of the best and correctest authours.
SAM. JOHNSON.
While Johnson kept his academy, there can be no doubt that he was insensibly furnishing his mind with various knowledge; but I have not discovered that he wrote any thing except a great part of his tragedy of IRENE. Mr. Peter Garrick; the elder brother of David, told me that he remembered Johnson's borrowing the Turkish History of him, in order to form his play from it. When he had finished some part of it, he read what he had done to Mr. Walmsley, who objected to his having already brought his heroine into great distress, and asked him
"how can you possibly contrive to plunge her into deeper calamity?"
Johnson, in sly allusion to the supposed oppressive proceedings of the court of which Mr. Walmsley was register, replied,
"Sir, I can put her into the Spiritual Court!"
Mr. Walmsley, however, was well pleased with this proof of Johnson's abilities as a dramatick writer, and advised him to finish the tragedy, and produce it on the stage.
Johnson now thought of trying his fortune in London, the great field of genius and exertion, where talents of every kind have the fullest scope, and the highest encouragement. It is a memorable circumstance that his pupil David Garrick went thither at the same time, with intention to complete his education, and follow the profession of the law, from which he was soon diverted by his decided preference for the stage.
This joint expedition of those two eminent men to the metropolis, was many years afterwards noticed in an allegorical poem on Shakspeare's Mulberry Tree, by Mr. Lovibond, the ingenious authour of
"The Tears of Old May-day."
They were recommended to Mr. Colson, an eminent mathematician and master of an academy, by the following letter from Mr. Walmsley:
To the Reverend Mr.
COLSON.
Lichfield,
March 2, 1737.
DEAR SIR,
I had the favour of yours, and am extremely obliged to you; but I cannot say I had a greater affection for you upon it than I had before, being long since so much endeared to you, as well by an early friendship, as by your many excellent and valuable qualifications; and, had I a son of my own, it would be my ambition, instead of sending him to the University, to dispose of him as this young gentleman is.
He, and another neighbour of mine, one Mr. Samuel Johnson, set out this morning for London together. Davy Garrick is to be with you early the next week, and Mr. Johnson to try his fate with a tragedy, and to see to get himself employed in some translation, either from the Latin or the French. Johnson is a very good scholar and poet, and I have great hopes will turn out a fine tragedy-writer. If it should any way lie in your way, doubt not but you would be ready to recommend and assist your countryman.
G. WALMSLEY.
How he employed himself upon upon his first coming to London is not particularly known. I never heard that he found any protection or encouragement by the means of Mr. Colson, to whose academy David Garrick went. Mrs. Lucy Porter told me, that Mr. Walmsley gave him a letter of introduction to Lintot his bookseller, and that Johnson wrote some things for him; but I imagine this to be a mistake, for I have discovered no trace of it, and I am pretty sure he told me, that Mr. Cave was the first publisher by whom his pen was engaged in London.
He had a little money when he came to town, and he knew how he could live in the cheapest manner. His first lodgings were at the house of Mr. Norris, a staymaker, in Exeter-street, adjoining Catharine-street, in the Strand.
"I dined (said he) very well for eight-pence, with very good company, at the Pine Apple in New-street, just by. Several of them had travelled. They expected to meet every day; but did not know one another's names. It used to cost the rest a shilling, for they drank wine; but I had a cut of meat for six-pence, and bread for a penny, and gave the waiter a penny; so that I was quite well served, nay, better than the rest, for they gave the waiter nothing."
He at this time, I believe, abstained entirely from fermented liquors; a practice to which he rigidly conformed for many years together, at different periods of his life.
His OFELLUS in the
Art of living in London,
I have heard him relate, was an Irish painter, whom he knew at Birmingham, and who had practised his own precepts of oeconomy for several years in the British capital. He assured Johnson, who, I suppose, was then meditating to try his fortune in London, but was apprehensive of the expence,
"that thirty pounds a year was enough to enable a man to live there without being contemptible. He allowed ten pounds for clothes and linen. He said a man might live in a garret at eighteen-pence a week; few people would inquire where he lodged; and if they did, it was easy to say, 'Sir, I am to be found at such a place.' By spending three-pence in a coffee-house, he might be for some hours every day in very good company; he might dine for six-pence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without supper. On
clean-shirt-day
he went abroad, and paid visits."
I have heard him more than once talk of this frugal friend, whom he recollected with esteem and kindness, and did not like to have any one smile at the recital.
"This man (said he, gravely,) was a very sensible man, who perfectly understood common affairs: a man of a great deal of knowledge of the world, fresh from life, not strained through books. He borrowed a horse and ten pounds at Birmingham. Finding himself master of so much money, he set off for West Chester, in order to get to Ireland. He returned the horse, and probably the ten pounds too, after he got home."
Considering Johnson's narrow circumstances in the early part of his life, and particularly at the interesting aera of his launching into the ocean of London, it is not to be wondered at, that an actual instance, proved by experience, of the possibility of enjoying the intellectual luxury of social life, upon a very small income, should deeply engage his attention, and be ever recollected by him as a circumstance of much importance. He amused himself, I remember, by computing how much more expence was absolutely necessary to live upon the same scale with that which his friend described, when the value of money was diminished by the progress of commerce. It may be estimated that double the money might now with difficulty be sufficient.
Amidst this cold obscurity, there was one brilliant circumstance to cheer him; he was well acquainted with Mr. Henry Hervey, one of the branches of the noble family of that name, who had been quartered at Lichfield as an officer of the army, and had at this time a house in London, where Johnson was frequently entertained, and had an opportunity of meeting genteel company. Not very long before his death, he mentioned this, among other particulars of his life, which he was kindly communicating to me; and he described this early friend
"Harry Hervey,"
thus:
"He was a vicious man, but very kind to me. If you call a dog HERVEY, I shall love him."
He told me he had now written only three acts of his IRENE, and that he retired for some time to lodgings at Greenwich, where he proceeded in it somewhat farther, and used to compose, walking in the Park; but did not stay long enough at that place to finish it.
At this period we find the following letter from him to Mr. Edward Cave, which, as a link in the chain of his literary history, it is proper to insert:
To Mr.
CAVE.
SIR,
Greenwich, next door to the Golden Heart, Church-street,
July 12, 1737.
HAVING observed in your papers very uncommon offers of encouragement to men of letters, I have chosen, being a stranger in London, to communicate to you the following design, which, I hope, if you join in it, will be of advantage to both of us.
The History of the Council of Trent having been lately translated into French, and published with large Notes by Dr. Le Courayer, the reputation of that book is so much revived in England, that, it is presumed, a new translation of it from the Italian, together with Le Courayer's Notes from the French, could not fail of a favourable reception.
If it be answered, that the History is already in English, it must be remembered, that there was the same objection against Le Courayer's undertaking, with this disadvantage, that the French had a version by one of their best translators, whereas you cannot read three pages of the English History without discovering that the style is capable of great improvements; but whether those improvements are to be expected from this attempt, you must judge from the specimen, which, if you approve the proposal, I shall submit to your examination.
Suppose the merit of the versions equal, we may hope that the addition of the Notes will turn the balance in our favour, considering the reputation of the Annotator.
Be pleased to favour me with a speedy answer, if you are not willing to engage in this scheme; and appoint me a day to wait upon you, if you are. I am, Sir,
Your humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
It should seem from this letter, though subscribed with his own name, that he had not yet been introduced to Mr. Cave. We shall presently see what was done in consequence of the proposal which it contains.
In the course of the summer he returned to Lichfield, where he had left Mrs. Johnson, and there he at last finished his tragedy, which was not executed with his rapidity of composition upon other occasions, but was slowly and painfully elaborated. A few days before his death, while burning a great mass of papers, he picked out from among them the original unformed sketch of this tragedy, in his own hand-writing, and gave it to Mr. Langton, by whose favour a copy of it is now in my possession. It contains fragments of the intended plot, and speeches for the different persons of the drama, partly in the raw materials of prose, partly worked up into verse; as also a variety of hints for illustration borrowed from the Greek, Roman, and modern writers. The hand-writing is very difficult to be read, even by those who were best acquainted with Johnson's mode of penmanship, which at all times was very particular. The King having graciously accepted of this manuscript as a literary curiosity, Mr. Langton made a fair and distinct copy of it, which he ordered to be bound up with the original and the printed tragedy; and the volume is deposited in the King's library. His Majesty was pleased to permit Mr. Langton to take a copy of it for himself.
The whole of it is rich in thought and imagery, and happy expressions; and of the
disjecta membra
scattered throughout, and as yet unarranged, a good dramatick poet might avail himself with considerable advantage. I shall give my readers some specimens of different kinds, distinguishing them by the Italick character.
"Nor think to say, here will I stop,
"Here will I fix the limits of transgression,
"Nor farther tempt the avenging rage of heaven.
"When guilt like this once harbours in the breast,
"Those holy beings, whose unseen direction
"Guides through the maze of life the steps of man,
"Fly the detested mansions of impiety,
"And quit their charge to horrour and to ruin."
A small part only of this interesting admonition is preserved in the play, and is varied, I think, not to advantage:
"The soul once tainted with so foul a crime,
"No more shall glow with friendship's hallow'd ardour:
"Those holy beings whose superiour care
"Guides erring mortals to the paths of virtue,
"Affrighted at impiety like thine,
"Resign their charge to baseness and to ruin."
"I feel the soft infection
"Flush in my cheek, and wander in my veins.
"Teach me the Grecian arts of soft persuasion."
Sure this is love, which heretofore I conceived the dream of idle maids, and wanton poets.
Though no comets or prodigies foretold the ruin of Greece, signs which heaven must by another miracle enable us to understand, yet might it be foreshown, by tokens no less certain, by the vices which always bring it on.
This last passage is worked up in the tragedy itself, as follows:
LEONTIUS.
"—That power that kindly spreads
"The clouds, a signal of impending showers,
"To warn the wand'ring linnet to the shade,
"Beheld, without concern, expiring Greece,
"And not one prodigy foretold our fate."
DEMETRIUS.
"A thousand horrid prodigies foretold it;
"A feeble government, eluded laws,
"A factious populace, luxurious nobles,
"And all the maladies of sinking states.
"When publick villainy, too strong for justice,
"Shows his bold front, the harbinger of ruin,
"Can brave Leontius call for airy wonders,
"Which cheats interpret, and which fools regard?
"When some neglected fabrick nods beneath
"The weight of years, and totters to the tempest,
"Must heaven dispatch the messengers of light,
"Or wake the dead, to warn us of its fall?"
I have tried thee, and joy to find that thou deservest to be loved by Mahomet,—with a mind great as his own. Sure, thou art an errour of nature, and an exception to the rest of thy sex, and art immortal; for sentiments like thine were never to sink into nothing. I thought all the thoughts of the fair had been to select the graces of the day, dispose the colours of the flaunting (flowing) robe, tune the voice and roll the eye, place the gem, choose the dress, and add new roses to the fading cheek, but—sparkling.
Thus in the tragedy:
"Illustrious maid, new wonders fix me thine;
"Thy soul completes the triumphs of thy face:
"I thought, forgive my fair, the noblest aim,
"The strongest effort of a female soul,
"Was but to choose the graces of the day,
"To tune the tongue, to teach the eyes to roll,
"Dispose the colours of the flowing robe,
"And add new colours to the faded cheek."
I shall select one other passage, on account of the doctrine which it illustrates. IRENE observes,
"that the Supreme Being will accept of virtue, whatever outward circumstances it may be accompanied with, and may be delighted with varieties of worship;—but is answered, that variety cannot affect that Being, who infinitely happy in his own perfections, wants no external gratifications; nor can infinite truth be delighted with falshood; that though he may guide or pity those he leaves in darkness, he abandons those who shut their eyes against the beams of day."
Johnson's residence at Lichfield, on his return to it at this time, was only for three months; and as he had as yet seen but a small part of the wonders of the metropolis, he had little to tell his townsmen. He related to me the following minute anecdote of this period:
"In the last age, when my mother lived in London, there were two sets of people, those who gave the wall, and those who took it; the peaceable and the quarrelsome. When I returned to Lichfield, after having been in London, my mother asked me, whether I was one of those who gave the wall, or those who took it.
Now
it is fixed that every man keeps to the right; or, if one is taking the wall, another yields it; and it is never a dispute
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 232.
."
He now removed to London with Mrs. Johnson; but her daughter, who had lived with them at Edial, was left with her relations in the country. His lodgings were for some time in Woodstock-street, near Hanover-square, and afterwards in Castle-street, near Cavendish-square. As there is something pleasingly interesting, to many, in tracing so great a man through all his different habitations, I shall, before this work is concluded, present my readers with an exact list of his lodgings and houses, in order of time, which, in placid condescension to my respectful curiosity, he one evening dictated to me, but without specifying how long he lived at each. In the progress of his life I shall have occasion to mention some of them as connected with particular incidents, or with the writing of particular parts of his works. To some, this minute attention may appear trifling; but when we consider the punctilious exactness with which the different houses in which Milton resided have been traced by the writers of his life, a similar enthusiasm may be pardoned in the biographer of Johnson.
His tragedy being by this time, as he thought, completely finished and fit for the stage, he was very desirous that it should be brought forward. Mr. Peter Garrick told me, that Johnson and he went together to the Fountain tavern, and read it over, and that he afterwards solicited Mr. Fleetwood, the patentee of Drury-lane theatre, to have it acted at his house; but Mr. Fleetwood would not accept it, probably because it was not patronised by some man of high rank; and it was not acted till 1749, when his friend David
Garrick was manager of that theatre.
"THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE,"
begun and carried on by Mr. Edward Cave, under the name of SYLVANUS URBAN, had attracted the notice and esteem of Johnson, in an eminent degree, before he came to London as an adventurer in literature. He told me, that when he first saw St. John's Gate, the place where that deservedly popular miscellany was originally printed, he
"beheld it with reverence."
I suppose, indeed, that every young authour has had the same kind of feeling for the magazine or periodical publication which has first entertained him, and in which he has first had an opportunity to see himself in print, without the risk of exposing his name. I myself recollect such impressions from
"THE SCOTS MAGAZINE,"
which was begun at Edinburgh in the year 1739, and has been ever conducted with judgement, accuracy, and propriety. I yet cannot help thinking of it with an affectionate regard. Johnson has dignified the Gentleman's Magazine, by the importance with which he invests the life of Cave; but he has given it still greater lustre by the various admirable Essays which he wrote for it.
Though Johnson was often solicited by his friends to make a complete list of his writings, and talked of doing it, I believe with a serious intention that they should all be collected on his own account, he put it off from year to year, and at last died without having done it perfectly. I have one in his own handwriting, which contains a certain number; I indeed doubt if he could have recollected every one of them, as they were so numerous, so various, and scattered in such a multiplicity of unconnected publications; nay, several of them published under the names of other persons, to whom he liberally contributed from the abundance of his mind. We must, therefore, be content to discover them, partly from occasional information given by him to his friends, and partly from internal evidence
While in the course of my narrative I enumerate his writings, I shall take care that my readers shall not be left to waver in doubt, between certainty and conjecture, with regard to their authenticity; and, for that purpose, shall mark with an
asterisk
(*) those which he acknowledged to his friends, and with a
dagger
(†) those which are ascertained to be his by internal evidence. When any other pieces are ascribed to him, I shall give my reasons.
.
His first performance in the Gentleman's Magazine, which for many years was his principal resource for employment and support, was a copy of Latin verses, in March, 1738, addressed to the editor in so happy a style of compliment, that Cave must have been destitute both of taste and sensibility, had had he not felt himself highly gratified.
Ad
URBANUM. *
URBANE,
nullis fesse laboribus,
URBANE,
nullis victe calumniis,
Cui fronte sertum in eruditâ
Perpetuò viret et virebit;
Quid moliatur gens imitantium,
Quid et minetur, solicitus parùm,
Vacare solis perge Musis,
Juxta animo studiisque felix.
Linguae procacis plumbea spicula,
Fidens, superbo frange silentio;
Victrix per obstantes catervas
Sedulitas animosa tendet.
Intende nervos, fortis, inanibus
Risurus olim nisibus aemuli;
Intende jam nervos, habebis
Participes operae Camoenas.
Non ulla Musis pagina gratior,
Quam quae severis ludicra jungere
Novit, fatigatamque nugis
Utilibus recreare mentem.
Texente Nymphis serta Lycoride,
Rosae ruborem sic viola adjuvat
Immista, sic Iris refulget
Aethereis variata fucis
A translation of this Ode, by an unknown correspondent, appeared in the Magazine for the month of May following:
"Hail URBAN! indefatigable man,
"Unwearied yet by all thy useful toil!
"Whom num'rous slanderers assault in vain;
"Whom no base calumny can put to soil.
"But still the laurel on thy learned brow
"Flourishes fair, and shall for ever grow.
"What mean the servile imitating crew,
"What their vain blust'ring, and their empty noise,
"Ne'er seek: but still thy noble ends pursue,
"Unconquer'd by the rabble's venal voice.
"Still to the Muse thy studious mind apply,
"Happy in temper as in industry.
"The senseless sneerings of an haughty tongue,
"Unworthy thy attention to engage,
"Unheeded pass: and tho' they mean thee wrong,
"By manly silence disappoint their rage.
"Assiduous diligence confounds its foes,
"Resistless, tho' malicious crouds oppose.
"Exert thy powers, nor slacken in the course,
"Thy spotless fame shall quash all false reports:
"Exert thy powers, nor fear a rival's force,
"But thou shalt smile at all his vain efforts;
"Thy labours shall be crown'd with large success;
"The Muse's aid thy magazine shall bless.
"No page more grateful to th' harmonious nine
"Than that wherein thy labours we survey:
"Where solemn themes in fuller splendour shine,
"(Delightful mixture,) blended with the gay.
"Where in improving, various joys we find,
"A welcome respite to the wearied mind.
"Thus when the nymphs in some fair verdant mead▪
"Of various flow'rs a beauteous wreath compose,
"The lovely violet's azure-painted head
"Adds lustre to the crimson-blushing rose.
"Thus splendid Iris, with her varied dye,
"Shines in the aether, and adorns the sky.
"BRITON."
.
S. J.
It appears that he was now enlisted by Mr. Cave as a regular coadjutor in his magazine, by which he probably obtained a tolerable livelihood. At what time, or by what means, he had acquired a competent knowledge both of French and Italian, I do not know; but he was so well skilled in them, as to be sufficiently qualified for a translator. That part of his labour which consisted in emendation and improvement of the productions of other contributors, like that employed in levelling ground, can be perceived only by those who had an opportunity of comparing the original with the altered copy. What we certainly know to have been done by him in this way, was the Debates in both houses of Parliament, under the name of
"The Senate of Lilliput,"
sometimes with feigned denominations of the several speakers, sometimes with denominations formed of the letters of their real names, in the manner of what is called anagram, so that they might easily be decyphered. Parliament then kept the press in a kind of mysterious awe, which made it necessary to have recourse to such devices. In our time it has acquired an unrestrained freedom, so that the people in all parts of the kingdom have a fair, open, and exact report of the actual proceedings of their representatives and legislators; which in our constitution is highly to be valued, though, unquestionably, there has of late been too much reason to complain of the petulance with which obscure scribblers have presumed to treat men of the most respectable character and situation.
This important article of the Gentleman's Magazine was, for several years, executed by Mr. William Guthrie, a man who deserves to be respectably recorded in the literary annals of this country. He was descended of an ancient family in Scotland; but having a small patrimony, and being an adherent of the unfortunate house of Stuart, he could not accept of any office in the state; he therefore came to London, and employed his talents and learning as an
"Authour by profession."
His writings in history, criticism, and politicks, had considerable merit
How much poetry he wrote, I know not; but he informed me, that he was the authour of the beautiful little piece,
"The Eagle and Robin Redbreast,"
in the collection of poems entitled
"THE UNION,"
though it is there said to be written by Archibald Scott, before the year 1600.
. He was the first English historian who had recourse to that authentick source of information, the Parliamentary Journals; and such was the power of his political pen, that, at an early period, government thought it worth their while to keep it quiet by a pension, which he enjoyed till his death. Johnson esteemed him enough to wish that his life should be written. The debates in Parliament, which were brought home and digested by Guthrie, whose memory, though surpassed by others who have since followed him in the same department, was yet very quick and tenacious, were sent by Cave to Johnson for his revision; and, after sometime, when Guthrie had attained to greater variety of employment, and the speeches were more and more enriched by the accession of Johnson's genius it was resolved that he should do the whole himself, from the scanty notes furnished by persons employed to attend in both houses of Parliament. Sometimes, however, as he himself told me, he▪ had nothing more communicated to him but the names of the several speakers, and the part which they had taken in the debate.
Thus was Johnson employed, during some of the best years of his life, as a mere literary labourer
"for gain, not glory,"
solely to obtain an honest support. He however indulged himself in occasional little sallies, which the French so happily express by the term
jeux d'esprit,
and which will be noticed in their order, in the progress of this work.
But what first displayed his transcendent powers, and
"gave the world assurance of the MAN,"
was his
"LONDON, a Poem, in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal,"
which came out in May this year, and burst forth with a splendour, the rays of which will for ever encircle his name. Boileau had imitated the same satire with great success, applying it to Paris; but an attentive comparison will satisfy every reader, that he is much excelled by the English Juvenal. Oldham had also imitated it, and applied it to London; all which performances concur to prove, that great cities, in every age, and in every country, will furnish similar topicks of satire. Whether Johnson had previously read Oldham's imitation, I do not know; but it is not a little remarkable, that there is scarcely any coincidence found between the two performances, though upon the very same subject. The only instances are, in describing London as the
sink
of foreign worthlessness:
"—
the
common shore,
"Where France does all her filth and ordure pour."
OLDHAM.
"The
common shore
of Paris and of Rome."
JOHNSON.
and,
"No calling or profession comes amiss,
"A
needy monsieur
can be what he please."
OLDHAM.
"All sciences a
fasting monsieur
knows."
JOHNSON.
The particulars which Oldham has collected, both as exhibiting the horrours of London, and of the times, contrasted with better days, are different from those of Johnson, and in general well chosen, and well exprest
I own it pleased me to find amongst them one trait of the manners of the age in London, in the last century, to shield from the sneer of English ridicule, what was some time ago too common a practice in my native city of Edinburgh:
"If what I've said can't from the town affright,
"Consider other
dangers of the night;
"When brickbats are from upper stories thrown,
"And
emptied chamberpots come pouring down
"From garret windows."
.
There are, in Oldham's imitation, many prosaick verses and bad rhymes, and his poem sets out with a strange inadvertent blunder:
"Tho' much concern'd to
leave
my dear old friend,
"I must, however,
his
design commend
"Of fixing in the country.—"
It is plain he was not going to leave his
friend;
his friend was going to leave
him.
A young lady at once corrected this with good critical sagacity to
"Tho' much concern'd to
lose
my dear old friend."
There is one passage in the original, better transfused by Oldham than by Johnson:
"Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se,
"Quàm quod ridiculos homines facit."
which is an exquisite remark on the galling meanness and contempt annexed to poverty: JOHNSON'S imitation is,
"Of all the griefs that harrass the distrest,
"Sure the most bitter is a fcornful jest."
OLDHAM'S, though less elegant, is more just:
"Nothing in poverty so ill is borne,
"As its exposing men to grinning scorn."
Where, or in what manner this poem was composed, I am sorry that I neglected to ascertain, with precision, from Johnson's own authority. He has marked upon his corrected copy of the first edition of it,
"Written in 1738;"
and, as it was published in the month of May in that year, it is evident that much time was not employed in preparing it for the press. The history of its publication I am enabled to give in a very satisfactory manner; and judging from myself; and many of my friends, I trust that it will not be uninteresting to my readers.
We may be certain, though it is not expressly named in the following letters to Mr. Cave in 1738, that they all relate to it:
To Mr.
CAVE.
Castle-street, Wednesday morning.
[No date. 1738.]
SIR,
WHEN I took the liberty of writing to you a few days ago, I did not expect a repetition of the same pleasure so soon; for a pleasure I shall always think it, to converse in any manner with an ingenious and candid man; but having the inclosed poem in my hands to dispose of for the benefit of the authour, (of whose abilities I shall say nothing, since I send you his performance,) I believed I could not procure more advantageous terms from any person than from you, who have so much distinguished yourself by your generous encouragement of poetry; and whose judgement of that art nothing but your commendation of my trifle
His Ode
"Ad Urbanum"
probably. N.
can give me any occasion to call in question. I do not doubt but you will look over this poem with another eye, and reward it in a different manner, from a mercenary bookseller, who counts the lines he is to purchase, and considers nothing but the bulk. I cannot help taking notice, that, besides what the authour may hope for on account of his abilities, he has likewise another claim to your regard, as he lies at present under very disadvantageous circumstances of fortune. I beg, therefore, that you will favour me with a letter to-morrow, that I may know what you can afford to allow him, that he may either part with it to you, or find out (which I do not expect) some other way more to his satisfaction.
I have only to add, that as I am sensible I have transcribed it very coarsely, which, after having altered it, I was obliged to do, I will, if you please to transmit the sheets from the press, correct it for you; and take the trouble of altering any stroke of satire which you may dislike.
By exerting on this occasion your usual generosity, you will not only encourage learning, and relieve distress, but (though it be in comparison of the other motives of very small account) oblige in a very sensible manner, Sir,
Your very humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
To Mr.
CAVE.
SIR,
Monday,
No. 6, Castle-street.
I AM to return you thanks for the present you were so kind as to send by me, and to intreat that you will be pleased to inform me by the penny-post, whether you resolve to print the poem. If you please to send it me by the post, with a note to Dodsley, I will go and read the lines to him, that we may have his consent to put his name in the title-page. As to the printing, if it can be set immediately about, I will be so much the authour's friend, as not to content myself with mere solicitations in his favour. I propose, if my calculation be near the truth, to engage for the reimbursement of all that you shall lose by an impression of 500, provided, as you very generously propose, that the profit, if any, be set aside for the authour's use, excepting the present you made, which, if he be a gainer, it is fit he should repay. I beg that you will let one of your servants write an exact account of the expence of such an impression, and send it with the poem, that I may know what I engage for. I am very sensible, from your generosity on this occasion, of your regard to learning, even in its unhappiest state, and cannot but think such a temper deserving of the gratitude of those who suffer so often from a contrary disposition. I am, Sir,
Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
To Mr.
CAVE.
SIR,
[No date.]
I WAITED on you to take the copy to Dodsley's: as I remember the number of lines which it contains, it will be longer than
Eugenio,
with the quotations, which must be subjoined at the bottom of the page, part of the beauty of the performance (if any beauty be allowed it) consisting in adapting Juvenal's sentiments to modern facts and persons. It will, with those additions, very conveniently make five sheets. And since the expence will be no more, I shall contentedly insure it, as I mentioned in my last. If it be not therefore gone to Dodsley's, I beg it may be sent me by the penny-post, that I may have it in the evening. I have composed a Greek Epigram to Eliza
The learned Mrs. Elizabeth Carter.
, and think she ought to be celebrated in as many different languages as Lewis le Grand. Pray send me word when you will begin upon the poem, for it is a long way to walk. I would leave my Epigram, but have not day-light to transcribe it. I am, Sir,
Your's, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
To Mr.
CAVE.
SIR,
[No date.]
I AM extremely obliged by your kind letter, and will not fail to attend you to-morrow with IRENE, who looks upon you as one of her best friends.
I was to day with Mr. Dodsley, who declares very warmly in favour of the paper you sent him, which he desires to have a share in, it being, as he says,
a creditable thing to be concerned in.
I knew not what answer to make till I had consulted you, nor what to demand on the authour's part, but am very willing that, if you please, he should have a part in it, as he will undoubtedly be more diligent to disperse and promote it. If you can send me word to-morrow what I shall say to him, I will settle matters, and bring the poem with me for the press, which as the town empties, we cannot be too quick with. I am, Sir,
Your's, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
To us who have long known the manly force, bold spirit, and masterly versification of this poem, it is a matter of curiosity to observe the diffidence with which its authour brought it forward into publick notice, while he is so cautious as not to avow it to be his own production; and with what humility he offers to allow the printer to
"alter any stroke of satire which he might dislike."
That any such alteration was made, we do not know. If we did, we could not but feel an indignant regret; but how painful is it to see that a writer of such vigourous powers of mind was actually in such distress, that the small profit which so short a poem, however excellent, could yield, was courted as a
"relief."
It has been generally said, I know not with what truth, that Johnson offered his
"LONDON"
to several booksellers, none of whom would purchase it. To this circumstance Mr. Derrick alludes in the following lines of his
"FORTUNE, A RHAPSODY:"
"Will no kind patron JOHNSON own?
"Shall JOHNSON friendless range the town?
"And every publisher refuse
"The offspring of his happy Muse?"
But we have seen that the worthy, modest, and ingenious Mr. Robert Dodsley had taste enough to perceive its uncommon merit, and thought it creditable to have a share in it. The fact is, that, at a future conference, he bargained for the whole property of it, for which he gave Johnson ten guineas, who told me,
"I might, perhaps, have accepted of less; but that Paul Whitehead had a little before got ten guineas for a poem; and I would not take less than Paul Whitehead."
I may here observe, that Johnson appeared to me to undervalue Paul Whitehead upon every occasion when he was mentioned, and, in my opinion, did not do him justice; but when it is considered that Paul Whitehead was a member of a riotous and profane club, we may account for Johnson's having a prejudice against him. Paul Whitehead was, indeed, unfortunate in being not only slighted by Johnson, but violently attacked by Churchill, who utters the following imprecation:
"May I (can worse disgrace on manhood fall?)
"Be born a Whitehead, and baptiz'd a Paul!"
yet I shall never be persuaded to think meanly of the authour of so brilliant and pointed a satire as
"MANNERS."
Johnson's
"London"
was published in May, 1738
Sir John Hawkins, p. 86, tells us
"The event is
antedated,
in the poem of 'London;' but in every particular, except the difference of a year, what is there said of the departùre of Thales, must be understood of Savage, and looked upon as
true history."
This conjecture is, I believe, entirely groundless. I have been assured, that Johnson said he was not so much as acquainted with Savage when he wrote his
"London."
If the departure mentioned in it was the departure of Savage; the event was not
antedated
but
foreseen;
for
"London"
was published in May, 1738, and Savage did not set out for Wales till July, 1739. However well Johnson could defend the credibility of
second sight,
he did not pretend that he himself was possessed of that faculty.
; and it is remarkable, that it came out on the same morning with Pope's satire, entitled
"1738;"
so that England had at once is Juvenal and Horace as poetical monitors. The Reverend Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Carlisle, to whom I am indebted for some obliging communications, was then a student at Oxford, and remembers well the effect which
"London"
produced. Every body was delighted with it; and there being no name to it, the first buz of the literary circles was
"here is an unknown poet, greater even than Pope."
And it is recorded in the Gentleman's Magazine of that year
P. 269.
, that it
"got to the second edition in the course of a week."
One of the warmest patrons of this poem on its first appearance was General OGLETHORPE, whose
"strong benevolence of soul"
was unabated during the course of a very long life; though it is painful to think, that he had but too much reason to become cold and callous, and discontented with the world, from the neglect which he experienced of his publick and private worth, by those in whose power it was to gratify so gallant a veteran with marks of distinction. This extraordinary person was as remarkable for his learning and taste, as for his other eminent qualities; and no man was more prompt, active, and generous in encouraging merit. I have heard Johnson gratefully acknowledge, in his presence, the kind and effectual support which he gave to his
"London,"
though unacquainted with its authour.
POPE, who then filled the poetical throne without a rival, it may reasonably be presumed, must have been particularly struck by the sudden appearance of such a poet; and, to his credit, let it be remembered, that his feelings and conduct on the occasion were candid and liberal. He requested Mr. Richardson, son of the painter, to endeavour to find out who this new authour was. Mr. Richardson, after some inquiry, having informed him that he had discovered only that his name was Johnson, and that he was some obscure man, Pope said,
"He will soon be
deterré
Sir Joshua Reynolds, from the information of the younger Richardson.
."
We shall presently see, from a note written by Pope, that he was himself afterwards more successful in his inquiries than his friend.
That in this justly-celebrated poem may be found a few rhymes which the critical precision of English prosody at this day would disallow, cannot be denied; but with this small imperfection, which in the general blaze of its excellence is not perceived, till the mind has subsided into cool attention, it is, undoubtedly, one of the noblest productions in our language, both for sentiment and expression. The nation was then in that ferment against the court and the ministry, which some years after ended in the downfall of Sir Robert Walpole; and as it has been said, that Tories are Whigs when out of place, and Whigs, Tories when in place; so, as a whig administration ruled with what force it could, a tory opposition had all the animation and all the eloquence of resistance to power, aided by the common topicks of patriotism, liberty, and independence! Accordingly, we find in Johnson's
"London"
the most spirited invectives against tyranny and oppression, the warmest predilection for his own country, and the purest love of virtue; interspersed with traits of his own particular character and situation, not omitting his prejudices as a
"true-born Englishman
It is, however, remarkable, that he uses the epithet, which, undoubtedly, since the union between England and Scotland, ought to denominate the natives of both parts of our island:
"Was early taught a BRITON'S rights to prize."
,"
not only against foreign countries, but against Ireland and Scotland. On some of these topicks I shall quote a few passages:
"The cheated nation's happy fav'rites see;
"Mark whom the great caress, who frown on me."
"Has heaven reserv'd, in pity to the poor,
"No pathless waste, or undiscover'd shore?
"No secret island in the boundless main?
"No peaceful desart yet unclaim'd by Spain?
"Quick let us rise, the happy seats explore,
"And bear Oppression's insolence no more."
"How, when competitors like these contend,
"Can
surly Virtue
hope to fix a friend?"
"This mournful truth is every where confess'd,
"SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPRESS'D!"
We may easily conceive with what feeling a great mind like his, cramped and galled by narrow circumstances, uttered this last line, which he marked by capitals. The whole of the poem is eminently excellent, and there are in it such proofs of a knowledge of the world, and of a mature acquaintance with life, as cannot be contemplated without wonder, when we consider that he was then only in his twenty-ninth year, and had yet been so little in the
"busy haunts of men."
Yet, while we admire the poetical excellence of this poem, candour obliges us to allow, that the flame of patriotism and zeal for popular resistance with which it is fraught, had no just cause. There was, in truth,
no
"oppression;"
the
"nation"
was
not
"cheated."
Sir Robert Walpole was a wise and a benevolent minister, who thought that the happiness and prosperity of a commercial country like ours, would be best promoted by peace, which he accordingly maintained, with credit, during a very long period. Johnson himself afterwards honestly acknowledged the merit of Walpole, whom he called
"a fixed star;"
while he characterised his opponent, Pitt, as
"a meteor."
But Johnson's juvenile poem was naturally impregnated with the fire of opposition, and upon every account was universally admired.
Though thus elevated into fame, and conscious of uncommon powers, he had not that bustling confidence, or, I may rather say, that animated ambition, which one might have supposed would have urged him to endeavour at rising in life. But such was his inflexible dignity of character, that he could not stoop to court the great; without which, hardly any man has made his way to high station. He could not expect to produce many such works as his
"LONDON,"
and he felt the hardship of writing for bread; he was, therefore, willing to resume the office of a schoolmaster, so as to have a sure, though moderate income for his life; and an offer being made to him of a school in Staffordshire
In a billet written by Mr. Pope in the following year, this school is said to have been in
Shropshire;
but as it appears from a letter from Earl Gower, that the trustees of it were
"some worthy gentlemen in Johnson's neighbourhood,"
I conclude that Pope must have, by mistake, written Shropshire instead of Staffordshire.
, provided he could obtain the degree of Master of Arts, Dr. Adams was applied to, by a common friend, to know whether that could be granted him as a favour from the University of Oxford. But though he had made such a figure in the literary world, it was then thought too great a favour to be asked.
Pope, without any knowledge of him but from his
"London,"
recommended him to Earl Gower, who endeavoured to procure for him a degree from Dublin, by the following letter to a friend of Dean Swift:
SIR,
MR. SAMUEL JOHNSON (author of
London,
a satire, and some other poetical pieces) is a native of this county, and much respected by some worthy gentlemen in his neighbourhood, who are trustees of a charity school now vacant; the certain salary is sixty pounds a year, of which they are desirous to make him master; but, unfortunately, he is not capable of receiving their bounty, which
would make him happy for life,
by not being a
Master of Arts;
which, by the statutes of this school, the master of it must be.
Now these gentlemen do me the honour to think that I have interest enough in you, to prevail upon you to write to Dean Swift, to persuade the University of Dublin to send a diploma to me, constituting this poor man Master of Arts in their University. They highly extol the man's learning and probity; and will not be persuaded, that the University will make any difficulty of conferring such a favour upon a stranger, if he is recommended by the Dean. They say he is not afraid of the strictest examination, though he is of so long a journey; and will venture it, if the Dean thinks it necessary; choosing rather to die upon the road,
than be starved to death in translating for booksellers;
which has been his only subsistence for some time past.
I fear there is more difficulty in this affair, than those good-natured gentlemen apprehend; especially as their election cannot be delayed longer than the 11th of next month. If you see this matter in the same light that it appears to me, I hope you will burn this, and pardon me for giving you so much trouble about an impracticable thing; but, if you think there is a probability of obtaining the favour asked, I am sure your humanity, and propensity to relieve merit in distress, will incline you to serve the poor man, without my adding any more to the trouble I have already given you, than assuring you that I am, with great truth, Sir,
Your faithful humble servant, GOWER.
Trentham,
Aug. 1, 1739.
It was, perhaps no small disappointment to Johnson that this respectable application had not the desired effect; yet how much reason has there been, both for himself and his country, to rejoice that it did not succeed, as he might probably have wasted in obscurity those hours in which he afterwards produced his incomparable works.
About this time he made one other effort to emancipate himself from the drudgery of authourship. He applied to Dr. Adams, to consult Dr. Smalbroke of the Commons, whether a person might be permitted to practice as an advocate there, without a doctor's degree in Civil Law.
"I am (said he) a total stranger to these studies; but whatever is a profession, and maintains numbers, must be within the reach of common abilities, and some degree of industry."
Dr. Adams was much pleased with Johnson's design to employ his talents in that manner, being confident he would have attained to great eminence. And, indeed, I cannot conceive a man better qualified to make a distinguished figure as a lawyer; for, he would have brought to his profession a rich store of various knowledge, an uncommon acuteness, and a command of language, in which few could have equalled, and none have surpassed him. He who could display eloquence and wit in defence of the decision of the House of Commons upon Mr. Wilkes's election for Middlesex, and of the unconstitutional taxation of our fellow subjects in America, must have been a powerful advocate in any cause. But here, also, the want of a degree was an insurmountable bar.
He was, therefore, under the necessity of persevering in that course, into which he had been forced; and we find, that his proposal from Greenwich to Mr. Cave, for a translation of Father Paul Sarpi's History, was accepted
In the Weekly Miscellany, October 21, 1738, there appeared the following advertisement:
"Just published, Proposals for printing the History of the Council of Trent, translated from the Italian of Father Paul Sarpi; with the Authour's Life, and Notes theological, historical, and critical, from the French edition of Dr. Le Courayer. To which are added, Observations on the History, and Notes and Illustrations from various Authours, both printed and manuscript. By S. Johnson. 1. The work will consist of two hundred sheets, and be two volumes in quarto, printed on good paper and letter. 2. The price will be 18
s.
each volume, to be paid, half a guinea at the time of subscribing, half a guinea at the delivery of the first volume, and the rest at the delivery of the second volume in sheets. 3. Two-pence to be abated for every sheet less than two hundred. It may be had on a large paper, in three volumes, at the price of three guineas; one to be paid at the time of subscribing, another at the delivery of the first, and the rest at the delivery of the other volumes. The work is now in the press, and will be diligently prosecuted. Subscriptions are taken in by Mr. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, Mr. Rivington in St. Paul's Church-yard▪ by E. Cave at St. John's Gate, and the Translator, at No. 6 in Castle-street, by Cavendish▪ square."
.
Some sheets of this translation were printed off, but the design was dropt; for it happened, oddly enough, that another person of the name of Samuel Johnson, Librarian of St. Martin's in the Fields, and Curate of that parish, engaged in the same undertaking, and was patronised by the Clergy, particularly by Dr. Pearce, afterwards Bishop of Rochester. Several light skirmishes passed between the rival translators, in the newspapers of the day; and the consequence was, that they destroyed each other, for neither of them went on with the work. It is much to be regretted, that the able performance of that celebrated genius FRA PAOLO, lost the advantage of being incorporated into British literature by the masterly hand of Johnson.
I have in my possession, by the favour of Mr. John Nichols, a paper in Johnson's hand-writing, entitled
"Account between Mr. Edward Cave and Sam. Johnson, in relation to a version of Father Paul, &c. begun August the 2d, 1738;"
by which it appears, that from that day to the 21st of April, Johnson received for this work 49
l.
7
s.
in sums of one, two, three, and sometimes four guineas at a time, most frequently two. And it is curious to observe the minute and scrupulous▪ accuracy with which Johnson has pasted upon it a slip of paper, which he has entitled
"Small Account,"
and which contains one article,
"Sept. 9th, Mr. Cave laid down 2
s.
6
d."
There is subjoined to this account, a list of some subscribers to the work, partly in Johnson's hand-writing, partly in that of another person; and there follows a leaf or two on which are written a number of characters which have the appearance of a short hand, which, perhaps, Johnson was then trying to learn.
To Mr.
CAVE.
SIR,
Wednesday.
I DID not care to detain your servant while I wrote an answer to your letter, in which you seem to insinuate that I had promised more than I am ready to perform. If I have raised your expectations by any thing that may have escaped my memory, I am sorry; and if you remind me of it, shall thank you for the favour. If I made fewer alterations than usual in the Debates, it was only because there appeared, and still appears to be, less need of alteration. The verses to Lady Firebrace
They afterwards appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine with this title, Verses to Lady Firebrace, at Bury Assizes.
may be had when you please, for you know that such a subject neither deserves much thought, nor requires it.
The Chinese Stories
Du Halde's Description of China was then publishing by Mr. Cave in weekly numbers, whence Johnson was to select pieces for the embellishment of the Magazine. N.
may be had folded down when you please to send, in which I do not recollect that you desired any alterations to be made.
An answer to another query I am very willing to write, and had consulted with you about it last night if there had been time; for I think it the most proper way of inviting such a correspondence as may be an advantage to the paper, not a load upon it.
As to the Prize Verses, a backwardness to determine their degrees of merit is not peculiar to me. You may, if you please, still have what I can say; but I shall engage with little spirit in an affair, which I shall
hardly
end to my own satisfaction, and
certainly
not to the satisfaction of the parties concerned
The premium of forty pounds proposed for the best poem on the Divine Attributes is here alluded to. N.
.
As to Father Paul, I have not yet been just to my proposal, but have met with impediments, which, I hope, are now at an end; and if you find the pregress hereafter not such as you have a right to expect, you can easily stimulate a negligent translator.
If any or all of these have contributed to your discontent, I will endeavour to remove it; and desire you to propose the question to which you wish for an answer. I am, Sir,
Your humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
To Mr.
CAVE.
SIR,
[No date.]
I AM pretty much of your opinion, that the Commentary cannot be prosecuted with any appearance of success; for as the names of the authours concerned are of more weight in the performance than its own intrinsick merit, the publick will be soon satisfied with it. And I think the Examen should be pushed forward with the utmost expedition. Thus, 'This day, &c. An Examen of Mr. Pope's Essay, &c. containing a succinct Account of the Philosophy of Mr. Leibnitz on the System of the Fatalists, with a Confutation of their Opinions, and an Illustration of the Doctrine of Free-will;' [with what else you think proper].
It will, above all, be necessary to take notice, that it is a thing distinct from the Commentary.
I was so far from imagining they stood still
The compositors in Mr. Cave's printing-office, who appear by this letter to have then waited for copy. N.
, that I conceived them to have a good deal beforehand, and therefore was less anxious in providing them more. But if ever they stand still on my account, it must doubtless be charged to me; and whatever else shall be reasonable, I shall not oppose; but beg a suspense of judgement till morning, when I must intreat you to send me a dozen proposals, and you shall then have copy to spare. I am, Sir,
Your's,
impransus,
SAM. JOHNSON.
Pray muster up the Proposals if you can, or let the boy recall them from the booksellers.
But although he corresponded with Mr. Cave concerning a translation of Crousaz's Examen of Pope's Essay on Man, and gave advice as one anxious for its success, I was long ago conivnced by a perusal of the Preface, that this translation was erroneously ascribed to him; and I have found this point ascertained, beyond all doubt, by the following article in Dr. Birch's Manuscripts in the British Museum:
"ELISIAE CARTERAE. S. P. D. THOMAS BIRCH.
"Versionem tuam Examinis Crousaziani jam perlegi. Summam styli et elegantiam, et in re difficillimâ proprietatem, admiratus.
"Dabam Novemb.
27o 1738
Birch MSS. Brit. Mus. 4320.
."
Indeed Mrs. Carter has lately acknowledged to Mr. Seward, that she was the translator of the Examen.
It is remarkable, that Johnson's last quoted letter to Mr. Cave concludes with a fair confession that he had not a dinner; and it is no less remarkable, that, though in this state of want himself, his benevolent heart was not insensible to the necessities of an humble labourer in literature, as appears from the very next letter:
To Mr.
CAVE.
DEAR SIR,
[No date.]
YOU may remember I have formerly talked with you about a Military Dictionary. The eldest Mr. Macbean, who was with Mr. Chambers, has very good materials for such a work, which I have seen, and will do it at a very low rate. I think the terms of War and Navigation might be comprised, with good explanations, in one 8vo. Pica, which he is willing to do for twelve shillings a sheet, to be made up a guinea at the second impression. If you think on it, I will wait on you with him. I am, Sir,
Your humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Pray lend me Topsel on Animals.
I must not omit to mention, that this Mr. Macbean was a native of Scotland.
In the Gentleman's Magazine of this year, Johnson gave a Life of Father Paul; * and he wrote the Preface to the Volume, † which, though prefixed to it when bound, is always published with the Appendix, and is therefore the last composition belonging to it. The ability and nice adaptation with which he sould draw up a prefatory address, was one of his peculiar excellencies.
It appears too, that he paid a friendly attention to Mrs. Elizabeth Carter;
for, in a letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch, November 28, this year, I find
"Mr. Johnson advises Miss C. to undertake a translation of
Boethius de Cons.
because there is prose and verse, and to put her name to it when published."
This advice was not followed, probably from an apprehension that the work was not sufficiently popular for an extensive sale. How well Johnson himself could have executed a translation of this philosophical poet, we may judge from a specimen which he has given in the Rambler
Motto to No. 7.
:
"O qui perpetuâ mundum ratione gubernas,
"Terrarum coelique sator!—
"Disjice terrenae nubulas et pondera molis,
"Atque tuo splendore mica! Tu namque serenum,
"Tu requies tranquilla piis. Te cernere finis,
"Principium, vector, dux, semita, terminus, idem."
"O THOU whose power o'er moving worlds presides,
"Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides,
"On darkling man in pure effulgence shine,
"And cheer the clouded mind with light divine.
"'Tis thine alone to calm the pious breast,
"With silent confidence and holy rest;
"From thee, great GOD! we spring, to thee we tend,
"Path, motive, guide, original, and end!"
In 1739, beside the assistance which he gave to the Parliamentary Debates, his writings in the Gentleman's Magazine were,
"The Life of Boerhaave, *"
in which it is to be observed, that he discovers that love of chymistry which never forsook him;
"An Appeal to the Publick in behalf of the Editor; †"
"An Address to the Reader; †"
"An Epigram both in Greek and Latin to Eliza, *"
and also English verses to her; * and,
"A Greek Epigram to Dr. Birch. *"
It has been erroneously supposed, that an Essay published in that Magazine this year, entitled
"The Apotheosis of Milton,"
was written by Johnson; and on that supposition it has been improperly inserted in the edition of his works by the booksellers, after his decease. Were there no positive testimony as to this point, the style of the performance, and the name of Shakspeare not being mentioned in an Essay professedly reviewing the principal English poets, would ascertain it not to be the production of Johnson. But there is here no occasion to resort to internal evidence; for my Lord Bishop of Carlisle has assured me, that it was written by Guthrie. His separate publications were,
"A Complete Vindication of the Licensers of the Stage, from the malicious and scandalous Aspersions of Mr. Brooke, Authour of Gustavus Vasa, *"
being an ironical Attack upon them for their Suppression of that Tragedy; and,
"Marmor Norfolciense; or an Essay on an ancient prophetical Inscription in monkish Rhyme, lately discovered near Lynne in Norfolk, by PROBUS BRITANNICUS. *"
In this performance, he, in a feigned inscription, supposed to have been found in Norfolk, the county of Sir Robert Walpole, then the obnoxious prime minister of this country, inveighs against the Brunswick succession, and the measures of government consequent upon it. To this supposed prophecy he added a Commentary, making each expression apply to the times, with warm Anti-Hanoverian zeal.
This anonymous pamphlet, I believe, did not make so much noise as was expected, and, therefore, had not a very extensive circulation. Sir John Hawkins relates, that
"warrants were issued, and messengers employed to apprehend the authour; who, though he had forborne to subscribe his name to the pamphlet, the vigilance of those in pursuit of him had discovered;"
and we are informed, that he lay concealed in Lambeth-marsh till the scent after him grew cold. This, however, is altogether without foundation; for Mr. Steele, one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, who, amidst a variety of important business, politely obliged me with his attention to my inquiry, informs me, that
"he directed every possible search to be made in the records of the Treasury and Secretary of State's Office, but could find no trace whatever of any warrant having been issued to apprehend the authour of this pamphlet."
"Marmor Norfolciense"
became exceedingly scarce, so that I, for many years, endeavoured in vain to procure a copy of it. At last I was indebted to the malice of one of Johnson's numerous petty adversaries, who, in 1775, published a new edition of it,
"with Notes and a Dedication to SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL. D. by TRIBUNUS;"
in which some puny scribbler invidiously attempted to found upon it a charge of inconsistency against its authour, because he had accepted of a pension from his present Majesty, and had written in support of the measures of government. As a mortification to such impotent malice, of which there are so many instances towards men of eminence, I am happy to relate, that this
telum imbelle
did not reach its exalted object, till about a year after it thus appeared, when I mentioned it to him, supposing that he knew of the re-publication. To my surprize, he had not yet heard of it. He requested me to go directly and get it for him, which I did. He looked at it and laughed, and seemed to be much diverted with the feeble efforts of his unknown adversary, who, I hope, is alive to read this account.
"Now (said he) here is somebody who thinks he has vexed me sadly; yet, if it had not been for you, you rogue, I should probably never have seen it."
As Mr. Pope's note concerning Johnson, alluded to in a former page, refers both to his
"London,"
and his
"Marmor Norfolciense,"
I have deferred inserting it till now. I am indebted for it to Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, who permitted me to copy it from the original in his possession. It was presented to his Lordship by Sir Joshua Reynolds, to whom it was given by the son of Mr. Richardson the painter, the person to whom it is addressed. I have transcribed it with minute exactness, that the peculiar mode of writing, and imperfect spelling of that celebrated poet, may be exhibited to the curious in literature. It justifies Swift's epithet of
"papersparing Pope,"
for it is written on a slip no larger than a common messagecard, and was sent to Mr. Richardson, along with the Imitation of Juvenal.
This is imitated by one Johnson who put in for a Publick School in Shropshire
See note, p. 67.
, but was Disappointed. He has an Infirmity of the convulsive kind, that attacks him sometimes, so as to make Him a sad Spectacle. Mr. P. from the Merit of This Work which was all the knowledge he had of Him endeavour'd to serve Him without his own application; & wrote to my Ld . gore, but he did not succeed. Mr. Johnson publish'd afterwds . another Poem in Latin with Notes the whole very Humerous call'd the Norfolk Prophecy.
P.
Johnson had been told of this note by Pope; and Sir Joshua Reynolds informed him of the compliment which it contained, but, from delicacy, avoided shewing him the paper itself. When Sir Joshua observed to Johnson that he seemed very desirous to see Pope's note, he answered,
"Who would not be proud to have such a man as Pope so solicitous in inquiring about him?"
The infirmity to which Mr. Pope alludes, appeared to me also, as I have elsewhere
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 8.
observed, to be of the convulsive kind, and of the nature of that distemper called St. Vitus's dance; and in this opinion I am confirmed by the description which Sydenham gives of that disease.
"This disorder is a kind of convulsion. It manifests itself by halting or unsteadiness of one of the legs, which the patient draws after him like an ideot. If the hand of the same side be applied to the breast, or any other part of the body, he cannot keep it a moment in the same posture, but it will be drawn into a different one by a convulsion, notwithstanding all his efforts to the contrary."
Sir Joshua Reynolds, however, is of a different opinion, and has favoured me with the following paper.
Those motions or tricks of Dr. Johnson are improperly called convulsions. He could sit motionless, when he was told so to do, as well as any other man; my opinion is, that it proceeded from a habit he had indulged himself in, of accompanying his thoughts with certain untoward actions, and those actions always appeared to me as if they were meant to reprobate some part of his past conduct. Whenever he was not engaged in conversation, such thoughts were sure to rush into his mind; and, for this reason, any company, any employment whatever, he preferred to being alone. The great business of his life (he said) was to escape from himself; this disposition he considered as the disease of his mind, which nothing cured but company.
One instance of his absence and particularity, as it is characteristick of the man, may be worth relating. When he and I took a journey together into the West, we visited the late Mr. Banks, of Dorsetshire; the conversation turning upon pictures, which Johnson could not well see, he retired to a corner of the room, stretching out his right leg as far as he could reach before him, then bringing up his left leg, and stretching his right still further on. The old gentleman observing him, went up to him, and in a very courteous manner assured him, that though it was not a new house, the flooring was perfectly safe. The Doctor started from his reverie, like a person waked out of his sleep, but spoke not a word.
While we are on this subject, my readers may not be displeased with another anecdote, communicated to me by the same friend, from the relation of Mr. Hogarth.
Johnson used to be a pretty frequent visiter at the house of Mr. Richardson, authour of Clarissa, and other novels of extensive reputation. Mr. Hogarth came one day to see Richardson, soon after the execution of Dr. Cameron, for having taken arms for the house of Stuart in 1745-6; and being a warm partisan of George the Second, he observed to Richardson, that certainly there must have been some very unfavourable circumstances lately discovered in this particular case, which had induced the King to approve of an execution for rebellion so long after the time when it was committed, as this had the appearance of putting a man to death in cold blood
Impartial posterity may, perhaps, be as little inclined as Dr. Johnson was to justify the uncommon rigour exercised in the case of Dr. Archibald Cameron. He was an amiable and truly honest man; and his offence was owing to a generous, though mistaken principle of duty. Being obliged, after 1746, to give up his profession as a physician, and go into foreign parts, he was honoured with the rank of Colonel, both in the French and Spanish service. He was a son of the ancient and respectable family of Cameron, of Lochiel; and his brother, who was the Chief of that brave clan, distinguished himself by moderation and humanity, while the Highland army marched victorious through Scotland. It is remarkable of this Chief, that though he had earnestly remonstrated against the attempt as hopeless, he was of too heroick a spirit not to venture his life and fortune in the cause, when personally asked by him whom he thought his Prince.
, and was very unlike his Majesty's usual clemency. While he was talking, he perceived a person standing at a window in the room, shaking his head, and rolling himself about in a strange ridiculous manner. He concluded that he was an ideot, whom his relations had put under the care of Mr. Richardson, as a very good man. To his great surprize, however, this figure stalked forwards to where he and Mr. Richardson were sitting, and all at once took up the argument, and burst out into an invective against George the Second, as one, who, upon all occasions, was unrelenting and barbarous; mentioning many instances, particularly, that when an officer of high rank had been acquitted by a Court Martial, George the Second had, with his own hand, struck his name osf the list. In short, he displayed such a power of eloquence, that Hogarth looked at him with astonishment, and actually imagined that this ideot had been at the moment inspired. Neither Hogarth nor Johnson were made known to each other at this interview.
In 1740 he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine the
"Preface, †"
"Life of Admiral Drake, *"
and the first parts of those of
"Sir Francis Blake, *"
and of
"Philip Baretier, *"
both which he finished the year after. He also wrote an
"Essay on Epitaphs, †"
and an
"Epitaph on Philips, a Musician, *"
which was afterwards published with some other pieces of his, in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies. This Epitaph is so exquisitely beautiful, that I remember even Lord Kames, strangely prejudiced as he was against Dr. Johnson, was compelled to allow it very high praise. It has been ascribed to Mr. Garrick, from its appearing at first with the signature G; but I have heard Mr. Garrick declare, that it was written by Dr. Johnson, and give the following account of the manner in which it was composed. Johnson and he were sitting together; when, amongst other things, Garrick repeated an Epitaph upon this Philips by a Dr. Wilkes, in these words:
"Exalted soul! whose harmony could please
"The love-sick virgin, and the gouty ease;
"Could jarring discord, like Amphion, move
"To beauteous order and harmonious love;
"Rest here in peace, till angels bid thee rise,
"And meet thy blessed Saviour in the skies."
Johnson shook his head at these common-place funereal lines, and said to Garrick,
"I think, Davy, I can make a better."
Then, stirring about his tea for a little while, in a state of meditation, he almost extempore produced the following verses:
"Phillips, whose touch harmonious could remove
"The pangs of guilty power or hapless love;
"Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more,
"Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before:
"Sleep, undisturb'd, within this peaceful shrine,
"Till angels wake thee with a note like thine!"
At the same time that Mr. Garrick favoured me with this anecdote, he repeated a very pointed Epigram by Johnson, on George the Second and Colley Cibber, which has never yet appeared, and of which I know not the exact date. Dr. Johnson afterwards gave it to me himself.
"Augustus still survives in Maro's strain,
"And Spencer's verse prolongs Eliza's reign;
"Great George's acts let tuneful Cibber sing;
"For Nature form'd the Poet for the King."
In 1741 he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine
"the Preface, †"
"Conclusion of his Lives of Drake and Baretier, *"
"A free Translation of the Jests of Hierocles, with an Introduction; †"
and, I think, the following pieces:
"Debate on the Proposal of Parliament to Cromwell, to assume the Title of King, abridged, methodised, and digested; †"
"Translation of Abbé Guyon's Dissertation on the Amazons; †"
"Translation of Fontenelle's Panegyrick on Dr. Morin. †"
Two notes upon this appear to me undoubtedly his. He this year, and the two following, wrote the Parliamentary Debates. He told me himself, that he was the sole composer of them for those three years only. He was not, however, precisely exact in his statement, which he mentioned from hasty recollection; for it is sufficiently evident, that his composition of them began November 19, 1740, and ended February 23, 1742-3.
It appears from some of Cave's letters to Dr. Birch, that Cave had better assistance for that branch of his Magazine, than has been generally supposed; and that he was indefatigable in getting it made as perfect as he could.
Thus, 21st July, 1735,
"I trouble you with the inclosed, because you said you could easily correct what is herein given for Lord C—ld's speech. I beg you will do so as soon as you can for me, because the month is far advanced."
And, 15th July, 1737.
"As you remember the Debates so far as to perceive the speeches already printed are not exact, I beg the favour that you will peruse the inclosed, and, in the best manner your memory will serve, correct the mistaken passages, or add any thing that is omitted. I should be very glad to have something of the Duke of N—le's speech, which would be particularly of service.
"A gentleman has Lord Bathurst's speech to add something to."
And, July 3, 1744,
"You will see what stupid, low, abominable stuff is put
I suppose in another compilation of the same kind.
upon your noble and learned friend's
Doubtless, Lord Hardwick.
character, such as I should quite reject, and endeavour to do something better towards doing justice to the character. But as I cannot expect to attain my desires in that respect, it would be a great satisfaction to me, as well as an honour to our work, to have the favour of the genuine speech. It is a method that several have been pleased to take, as I could shew, but I think myself under a restraint. I shall say so far, that I have had some by a third hand, which I understood well enough to come from the first; others by penny-post, and others by the speakers themselves, who have been pleased to visit St. John's Gate, and shew particular marks of their being pleased
Birch's MSS. in the British Museum, 4302.
."
There is no reason, I believe, to doubt the veracity of Cave. It is, however, remarkable, that none of these letters are in the years during which Johnson alone furnished the Debates, and one of them is in the very year after he ceased from that labour. Johnson told me, that as soon as he found that the speeches were thought genuine, he determined that he would write no more of them, for
"he would not be accessary to the propagation of falshood."
And such was the tenderness of his conscience, that a short time before his death he expressed a regret for his having been the authour of fictions, which had passed for realities.
He nevertheless agreed with me in thinking, that the Debates which he had framed were to be valued as Orations upon questions of publick importance. They have accordingly been collected in volumes, properly arranged, and recommended to the notice of parliamentary speakers by a Preface, written by no inferiour hand
I am well assured, that the editor is Mr. George Chalmers, whose commercial works are well known and esteemed.
. I must, however, observe, that although there is in those Debates a wonderful store of political information, and very powerful eloquence, I cannot agree that they exhibit the manner of each particular speaker, as Sir John Hawkins seems to think. But, indeed, what opinion can we have of his judgement, and taste in publick speaking, who presumes to give, as the characteristicks of two celebrated orators,
"the deep-mouthed rancour of Pulteney, and the yelping pertinacity of Pitt
Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 100.
."
This year I find that his tragedy of IRENE had been for some time ready for the stage, and that his necessities made him desirous of getting as much as he could for it, without delay; for there is the following letter from Mr. Cave to Dr. Birch, in the same volume of manuscripts in the British Museum from whence I copied those above quoted. They were most obligingly pointed out to me by Sir William Musgrave, one of the Curators of that noble repository.
Sept. 9, 1741.
I HAVE put Mr. Johnson's play into Mr. Gray's
A bookseller of London.
hands, in order to sell it to him, if he is inclined to buy it; but I doubt whether he will or not. He would dispose of the copy, and whatever advantage may be made by acting it. Would your society
It is strange, that a printer who knew so much as Cave, should conceive so ludicrous a fancy as that the Royal Society would purchase a Play.
, or any gentleman or body of men that you know, take such a bargain? He and I are very unfit to deal with theatrical persons. Fleetwood was to have acted it last season, but Johnson's diffidence or
There is no erasure here, but a mere blank; to fill up which may be an exercise for ingenious conjecture.
prevented it.
I have already mentioned that
"Irene"
was not brought into publick notice till Garrick was manager of Drury-lane theatre.
In 1742 he wrote for the Gentleman's Magazine the
"Preface, †"
the
"Parliamentary Debates, *"
"Essay on the Account of the Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough, *"
then the popular topick of conversation. This Essay is a short but masterly performance. We find him▪ in No. 13 of his Rambler, censuring a profligate sentiment in that
"Account;"
and again insisting upon it strenuously in conversation 8
6 Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 167.
.
"An Account of the Life of Peter Burman, *"
I believe chiefly taken from a foreign publication; as, indeed, he could not himself know much about Burman;
"Additions to his Life of Baretier; *"
"The Life of Sydenham, *"
afterwards prefixed to Dr. Swan's edition of his works;
"Proposals for printing Bibliotheca Harleiana, or a Catalogue of the Library of the Earl of Oxford. *"
His account of that celebrated collection of books, in which he displays the importance to literature, of what the French call a
catalogue raisonnée,
when the subjects of it are extensive and various, and it is executed with ability, cannot fail to impress all his readers with admiration of his philological attainments. It was afterwards prefixed to the first volume of the Catalogue, in which the Latin accounts of books were written by him. He was employed in this business by Mr. Thomas Osborne the bookseller, who purchased the library for 13,000
l.
a sum, which Mr. Oldys says, in one of his manuscripts, was not more than the binding of the books had cost; yet, as Dr. Johnson assured me, the slowness of the sale was such, that there was not much gained by it. It has been confidently related, with many embellishments, that Johnson one day knocked Osborne down in his shop, with a folio, and put his foot upon his neck. The simple truth I had from Johnson himself.
"Sir, he was impertinent to me, and I beat him. But it was not in his shop: it was in my own chamber."
A very diligent observer may trace him where we should not easily suppose him to be found. I have no doubt that he wrote the little abridgement entitled
"Foreign History,"
in the Magazine for December. To prove it, I shall quote the introduction.
"As this is that season of the year in which Nature may be said to command a suspension of hostilities, and which seems intended, by putting a short stop to violence and slaughter, to afford time for malice to relent, and animosity to subside; we can scarce expect any other accounts than of plans, negociations and treaties, of proposals for peace, and preparations for war."
As also this passage:
"Let those who despise the capacity of the Swiss, tell us by what wonderful policy, or by what happy conciliation of interests, it is brought to pass, that in a body made up of different communities and different religions, there should be no civil commotions, though the people are so warlike, that to nominate and raise an army is the same."
I am obliged to Mr. Astle for his ready permission to copy the two following letters, of which the originals are in his possession. Their contents shew that they were written about this time, and that Johnson was now engaged in preparing an historical account of the British Parliament.
To Mr.
CAVE.
SIR,
[No date.]
I BELIEVE I am going to write a long letter, and have therefore taken a whole sheet of paper. The first thing to be written about is our historical design.
You mentioned the proposal of printing in numbers, as an alteration in the scheme, but I believe you mistook, some way or other, my meaning; I had no other view than that you might rather print too many of five sheets, than of five and thirty.
With regard to what I shall say on the manner of proceeding, I would have it understood as wholly indifferent to me, and my opinion only, not my resolution.
Emptoris sit eligere.
I think the insertion of the exact dates of the most important events in the margin, or of so many events as may enable the reader to regulate the order of facts with sufficient exactness, the proper medium between a journal which has regard only to time, and a history which ranges facts according to their dependence on each other, and postpones or anticipates according to the convenience of narration. I think the work ought to partake of the spirit of history, which is contrary to minute exactness, and of the regularity of a journal, which is inconsistent with spirit. For this reason, I neither admit numbers or dates, nor reject them.
I am of your opinion with regard to placing most of the resolutions, &c. in the margin, and think we shall give the most complete account of parliamentary proceedings that can be contrived. The naked papers, without an historical treatise interwoven, require some other book to make them understood. I will date the succeeding facts with some exactness, but I think in the margin. You told me on Saturday that I had received money on this work, and found set down 13
l.
2
s.
6
d.
reckoning the half guinea of last Saturday. As you hinted to me that you had many calls for money, I would not press you too hard, and therefore shall desire only, as I send it in, two guineas for a sheet of copy, the rest you may pay me when it may be more convenient▪ and even by this sheet-payment I shall, for some time, be very expensive.
The Life of Savage I am ready to go upon; and in Great Primer, and Pica notes, I reckon on sending in half a sheet a day; but the money for that shall likewise lye by in your hands till it is done. With the debates, shall I not have business enough? if I had but good pens.
Towards Mr. Savage's Life what more have you got? I would willingly have his trial, &c. and know whether his defence be at Bristol; and would have his collection of poems, on account of the preface—The Plain Dealer,—all the magazines that have any thing of his, or relating to him.
I thought my letter would be long, but it is now ended; and I am, Sir,
Your's, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
The boy found me writing this almost in the dark, when I could not quite easily read yours.
I have read the Italian—nothing in it is well.
I had no notion of having any thing for the Inscription. I hope you don't think I kept it it to extort a price. I could think of nothing, till to day. If you could spare me another guinea for the history, I should take it very kindly, to night; but if you do not, I shall not think it an injury.—I am almost well again.
To Mr.
CAVE.
SIR,
YOU did not tell me your determination about the
Soldier's Letter
I have not discovered what this was.
, which I am confident was never printed. I think it will not do by itself, or in any other place, so well as the Mag. Extraordinary. If you will have it at all, I believe you do not think I set it high, and I will be glad if what you give, you will give quickly.
You need not be in care about something to print, for I have got the State Trials, and shall extract Layer, Atterbury, and Macclesfield from them, and shall bring them to you in a fortnight; after which I will try to get the South Sea Report.
[No date, nor signature.]
I would also ascribe to him an
"Essay on the Description of China, from the French of Du Halde. †"
His writings in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1743, are, the Preface, † the Parliamentary Debates, †
"Considerations on the Dispute between Crousaz and Warburton, on Pope's Essay on Man, †"
in which, while he defends Crousaz, he shews an admirable metaphysical acuteness and temperance in controversy;
"Ad Lauram parituram Epigramma
Angliacas inter pulcherrima Laura puellas,
Mox uteri pondus depositura grave,
Adsit, Laura, tibi facilis Lucina dolenti,
Neve tibi noceat praenituisse Deae.
Mr. Hector was present when this Epigram was made
impromptu.
The first line was proposed by Dr. James, and Johnson was called upon by the company to finish it, which he instantly did.
; *"
and,
"A Latin Translation of Pope's Verses on his Grotto; *"
and, as he could employ his pen with equal success upon a small matter as a great, I suppose him to be the authour of an advertisement for Osborn, concerning the great Harleian Catalogue.
But I should think myself much wanting, both to my illustrious friend and my readers, did I not introduce here, with more than ordinary respect, an exquisitely beautiful Ode, which has not been inserted in any of the collections of Johnson's poetry, written by him at a very early period, as Mr. Hector informs me, and inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine of this year.
FRIENDSHIP,
an
ODE. *
FRIENDSHIP, peculiar boon of heaven,
The noble mind's delight and pride,
To men and angels only given,
To all the lower world deny'd.
While love, unknown among the blest,
Parent of thousand wild desires,
The savage and the human breast
Torments alike with raging fires.
With bright, but oft destructive, gleam,
Alike o'er all his lightnings fly;
Thy lambent glories only beam
Around the fav'rites of the sky.
Thy gentle flows of guiltless joys
On fools and villains ne'er descend;
In vain for thee the tyrant sighs,
And hugs a flatterer for a friend.
Directress of the brave and just,
O guide us through life's darksome way!
And let the tortures of mistrust
On selfish bosoms only prey.
Nor shall thine ardours cease to glow,
When souls to blissful climes remove:
What rais'd our virtue here below,
Shall aid our happiness above.
Johnson had now an opportunity of obliging his schoolfellow Dr. James, of whom he once observed,
"no man brings more mind to his profession."
James published this year his
"Medicinal Dictionary,"
in three volumes folio. Johnson, as I understood from him, had written, or assisted in writing, the proposals for this work; and being very fond of the study of physick, in which James was his master, he furnished some of the articles. He, however, certainly wrote for it the Dedication to Dr. Mead,† which is conceived with great address, to conciliate the patronage of that very eminent man
To Dr.
MEAD.
SIR,
THAT the
Medicinal Dictionary
is dedicated to you, is to be imputed only to your reputation for superiour skill in those sciences which I have endeavoured to explain and facilitate: and you are, therefore, to consider this address, if it be agreeable to you, as one of the rewards of merit; and, if otherwise, as one of the inconveniencies of eminence.
However you shall receive it, my design cannot be disappointed; because this publick appeal to your judgement will shew that I do not found my hopes of approbation upon the ignorance of my readers, and that I fear his censure least, whose knowledge is most extensive.
I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, R. JAMES.
.
It has been circulated, I know not with what authenticity, that Johnson considered Dr. Birch as a dull writer, and said of him,
"Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand, than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties."
That the literature of this country is much indebted to Birch's activity and diligence, must certainly be acknowledged. We have seen that Johnson honoured him with a Greek Epigram; and his correspondence with him, during many years, proves that he had no mean opinion of him.
To Dr.
BIRCH.
SIR,
Thursday, Sept. 29, 1743.
I HOPE you will excuse me for troubling you on an occasion on which I know not whom else I can apply to; I am at a loss for the Lives and Characters of Earl Stanhope, the two Craggs, and the Minister Sunderland; and beg that you will inform [me] where I may find them, and send any pamphlets, &c. relating to them to Mr. Cave, to be perused for a few days by, Sir,
Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
His circumstances were at this time much embarrassed; yet his affection for his mother was so warm, and so liberal, that he took upon himself a debt of hers, which, though small in itself, was then considerable to him. This appears from the following letter which he wrote to Mr. Levett, of Lichfield, the original of which lies now before me.
To Mr.
LEVETT,
in Lichfield.
SIR,
December 1, 1743.
I AM extremely sorry that we have encroached so much upon your forbearance with respect to the interest, which a great perplexity of affairs hindered me from thinking of with that attention that I ought, and which I am not immediately able to remit to you, but will pay it (I think twelve pounds,) in two months. I look upon this, and on the future interest of that mortgage, as my own debt; and beg that you will be pleased to give me directions how to pay it, and not mention it to my dear mother. If it be necessary to pay this in less time, I believe I can do it; but I take two months for certainty, and beg an answer whether you can allow me so much time. I think myself very much obliged to your forbearance, and shall esteem it a great happiness to be able to serve you. I have great opportunities of dispersing any thing that you may think it proper to make publick. I will give a note for the money, payable at the time mentioned, to any one here that you shall appoint.
I am, Sir, Your most obedient And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON,
At Mr. Osborne's, bookseller, in Gray's Inn.
It does not appear that he wrote any thing in 1744 for the Gentleman's Magazine, but the Preface. † His life of Baretier was now re-published in a pamphlet by itself. But he produced one work this year, fully sufficient to maintain the high reputation which he had acquired. This was
"THE LIFE OF RICHARD SAVAGE; *"
a man, of whom it is difficult to speak impartially, without wondering that he was for some time the intimate companion of Johnson; for his character was marked by profligacy, insolence, and ingratitude
As a specimen of his temper, I insert the following letter from him to a noble Lord, to whom he was under great obligations, but who, on account of his bad conduct, was obliged to discard him. The original is in the hands of one of his Majesty's Counsel learned in the Law:
Right Honourable BRUTE, and BOOBY,
I FIND you want (as Mr.—is pleased to hint,) to swear away my life, that is, the life of your creditor, because he asks you for a debt.—The publick shall soon be acquainted with this, to judge whether you are not fitter to be an Irish Evidence, than to be an Irish Peer.—I defy and despise you. I am,
Your determined adversary, R. S.
: yet, as he undoubtedly had a warm and vigorous, though unregulated mind, had seen life in all its varieties, and been much in the company of the statesmen and wits of his time, he could communicate to Johnson an abundant supply of such materials as his philosophical curiosity most eagerly desired; and as Savage's misfortunes and misconduct had reduced him to the lowest state of wretchedness as a writer for bread, his visits to St. John's Gate naturally brought Johnson and him together
Sir John Hawkins gives the world to understand, that Johnson
"being an admirer of genteel manners, was captivated by the address and demeanour of Savage, who, as to his exterior, was, to a remarkable degree, accomplished."
—Hawkins's Life, p. 52. But Sir John's notions of gentility must appear somewhat ludicrous, from his stating the following circumstance as presumptive evidence that Savage was a good swordsman:
"That he understood the exercise of a gentleman's weapon, may be inferred from the use made of it in that rash encounter which is related in his life."
The dexterity here alluded to was, that Savage, in a nocturnal sit of drunkenness, stabbed a man at a coffee-house, and killed him; for which he was tried at the Old-Bailey, and found guilty of murder.
Johnson, indeed, describes him as having
"a grave and manly deportment, a solemn dignity of mien; but which, upon a nearer acquaintance, softened into an engaging easiness of manners."
How highly Johnson admired him for that knowledge which he himself so much cultivated, and what kindness he entertained for him, appears from the following lines in the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1738, which I am assured were written by Johnson:
Ad
RICARDUM SAVAGE.
"Humani studium generis cui pectore fervet,
"O colat humanum te soveatque genus."
.
It is melancholy to reflect, that Johnson and Savage were sometimes in such extreme indigence, that they could not pay for a lodging; so that they have wandered together whole nights in the streets. Yet in these almost incredible scenes of distress, we may suppose that Savage mentioned many of the anecdotes with which Johnson afterwards enriched the life of his unhappy companion, and those of other Poets.
He mentioned to Sir Joshua Reynolds, that one night in particular, when Savage and he walked round St. James's-square for want of a lodging, they were not at all depressed by their situation, but in high spirits and brimful of patriotism, traversed the square for several hours, inveighed against the minister, and
"resolved they would
stand by their country."
I am afraid, however, that by associating with Savage, who was habituated to the dissipation and licentiousness of the Town, Johnson, though his good principles remained steady, did not entirely preserve that conduct, for which, in days of greater simplicity, he was remarked by his friend Mr. Hector; but was imperceptibly led into some indulgences which occasioned much distress to his virtuous mind.
That Johnson was anxious that an authentick and favourable account of his extraordinary friend should first get possession of the publick attention, is evident from a letter which he wrote in the Gentleman's Magazine for August of the year preceding its publication.
Mr. URBAN,
AS your collections show how often you have owed the ornaments of your poetical pages to the correspondence of the unfortunate and ingenious Mr. Savage, I doubt not but you have so much regard to his memory as to encourage any design that may have a tendency to the preservation of it from insults or calumnies; and therefore, with some degree of assurance, intreat you to inform the publick, that his life will speedily be published by a person who was favoured with his confidence, and received from himself an account of most of the transactions which he proposes to mention, to the time of his retirement to Swansea in Wales.
From that period, to his death in the prison of Bristol, the account will be continued from materials still less liable to objection; his own letters, and those of his friends, some of which will be inserted in the work, and abstracts of others subjoined in the margin.
It may be reasonably imagined, that others may have the same design; but as it is not credible that they can obtain the same materials, it must be expected they will supply from invention the want of intelligence; and that under the title of 'The Life of Savage,' they will publish only a novel, filled with romantick adventures, and imaginary amours. You may therefore, perhaps, gratify the lovers of truth and wit, by giving me leave to inform them in your magazine, that my account will be published in 8vo. by Mr. Roberts, in Warwick-lane.
[No signature.]
In February, 1744, it accordingly came forth from the shop of Roberts, between whom and Johnson I have not traced any connection, except the casual one of this publication. In this work, although it must be allowed that its moral is the reverse of—
"Respicere exemplar vitae morumque jubebo,"
a very useful lesson is inculcated, to guard men of warm passions from a too free indulgence of them; and the various incidents are related in so clear and animated a manner, and illuminated throughout with so much philosophy, that it is one of the most interesting narratives in the English language. Sir Joshua Reynolds told me, that upon his return from Italy he met with it in Devonshire, knowing nothing of its authour, and began to read it while he was standing with his arm leaning against a chimney-piece. It seized his attention so strongly, that, not being able to lay down the book till he had finished it, when he attempted to move, he found his arm totally benumbed. The rapidity with which this work was composed, is a wonderful circumstance. Johnson has been heard to say,
"I wrote forty-eight of the printed octavo pages of the Life of Savage at a sitting; but then I sat up all night
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 35.
."
He exhibits the genius of Savage to the best advantage, in the specimens of his poetry which he has selected, some of which are of uncommon merit. We, indeed, occasionally find such vigour and such point, as might make us suppose that the generous aid of Johnson had been imparted to his friend. Mr. Thomas Warton made this remark to me; and, in support of it, quoted from the poem entitled
"The Bastard,"
a line in which the fancied superiority of one
"stamped in Nature's mint with extasy,"
is contrasted with a regular lawful descendant of some great and ancient family:
"No tenth transmitter of a foolish face."
but the fact is, that this poem was published some years before Johnson and Savage were acquainted.
It is remarkable, that in this biographical disquisition there appears a very strong symptom of Johnson's prejudice against players; a prejudice, which may be attributed to the following causes: first, the imperfection of his organs, which were so defective that he was not susceptible of the fine impressions which theatrical excellence produces upon the generality of mankind; secondly, the cold rejection of his tragedy; and, lastly, the brilliant success of Garrick, who had been his pupil, who had come to London at the same time with him, not in a much more prosperous state than himself, and whose talents he undoubtedly rated low, compared with his own. His being outstripped by his pupil in the race of immediate fame, as well as of fortune, probably made him feel some indignation, as thinking that whatever might be Garrick's merits in his art, the reward was too great when compared with what the most successful efforts of literary labour could attain. At all periods of his life Johnson used to talk contemptuously of players; but in this work he speaks of them with peculiar acrimony; for which, perhaps, there was formerly too much reason from the licentious and dissolute manners of those engaged in that profession. It is but justice to add, that in our own time such a change has taken place, that there is no longer room for such an unfavourable distinction.
His schoolfellow and friend, Dr. Taylor, told me a pleasant anecdote of Johnson's triumphing over his pupil David Garrick. When that great actor had played some little time at Goodman's-fields, Johnson and Taylor went to see him persorm, and afterwards passed the evening at a tavern with him and old Giffard. Johnson, who was ever depreciating stage-players, after censuring some mistakes in emphasis which Garrick had committed in the course of that night's acting, said,
"the players, Sir, have got a kind of rant, with which they run on, without any regard either to accent or emphasis."
Both Garrick and Giffard were offended at this sarcasm, and endeavoured to refute it; upon which Johnson rejoined,
"Well now, I'll give you something to speak, with which you are little acquainted, and then we shall see how just my observation is. That shall be the criterion. Let me hear you repeat the ninth Commandment,
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."
Both tried at it, said Dr. Taylor, and both mistook the emphasis, which should be upon
not
and
false witness.
Johnson put them right, and enjoyed his victory with great glee.
His
"Life of Savage"
was no sooner published, than the following liberal praise was given to it, in
"The Champion,"
a periodical paper:
"This pamphlet is, without flattery to its authour, as just and well written a piece as of its kind I ever saw; so that at the same time that it highly deserves, it certainly stands very little in need of this recommendation. As to the history of the unfortunate person, whose memoirs compose this work, it is certainly penned with equal accuracy and spirit, of which I am so much the better judge, as I know many of the facts mentioned to be strictly true, and very fairly related. Besides, it is not only the story of Mr. Savage, but innumerable incidents relating to other persons, and other affairs, which renders this a very amusing, and, withal, a very instructive and valuable performance. The authour's observations are short, significant, and just, as his narrative is remarkably smooth and well disposed. His reflections open to all the recesses of the human heart; and, in a word, a more just or pleasant, a more engaging or a more improving treatise, on all the excellencies and defects of human nature, is scarce to be found in our own, or, perhaps, any other language."
This paper is well known to have been written by the celebrated Henry Fielding. But, I suppose, Johnson was not informed of his being indebted to him for this civility; for if he had been apprised of that circumstance, as he was very sensible of praise, he probably would not have spoken with so little respect of Fielding, as we shall find he afterwards did.
Johnson's partiality for Savage made him entertain no doubt of his story, however extraordinary and improbable. It never occurred to him to question his being the son of the Countess of Macclesfield, of whose unrelenting barbarity he so loudly complained, and the particulars of which are related in so strong and affecting a manner in Johnson's life of him. Johnson was certainly well warranted in publishing his narrative, however offensive it might be to the Lady and her relations, because her alledged unnatural and cruel conduct to her son, and shameful avowal of guilt, were stated in a life of Savage now lying before me, which came out so early as 1727, and no attempt had been made to confute it, or to punish the authour or printer as a libeller: but, for the honour of human nature, we should be glad to find the shocking tale not true; and, from a respectable gentleman connected with the Lady's family, I have received such information and remarks, as joined to my own inquiries, will, I think, render it at least somewhat doubtful, especially when we consider that it must have originated from the person himself who went by the name of Richard Savage.
If the maxim
falsum in uno, falsum in omnibus,
were to be received without qualification, the credit of Savage's narrative, as conveyed to us, would be annihilated; for it contains some assertions which, beyond a question, are not true.
1. In order to induce a belief that Earl Rivers, on account of a criminal connection with whom, Lady Macclesfield is said to have been divorced from her husband, by Act of Parliament
1697.
, had a peculiar anxiety about the child which she bore to him, it is alledged, that his Lordship gave him his own name, and had it duly recorded in the register of St. Andrew's, Holborn. I have carefully inspected that register, but no such entry is to be found.
2. It is stated, that
"Lady Macclesfield having lived for some time upon very uneasy terms with her husband, thought a publick confession of adultery the most obvious and expeditious method of obtaining her liberty;"
and Johnson, assuming this to be true, stigmatises her with indignation, as
"the wretch who had, without scruple, proclaimed herself an adulteress."
But I have perused the Journals of both houses of Parliament at the period of her divorce, and there find it authentically ascertained, that so far from voluntarily submitting to the ignominious charge of adultery, she made a strenuous defence by her Counsel; the bill having been first moved 15th January, 1697, in the House of Lords, and proceeded on, (with various applications for time to bring up witnesses at a distance, &c.) at intervals, till the 3d of March, when it passed. It was brought to the Commons, by a message from the Lords, the 5th of March, proceeded on the 7th, 10th, 11th, 14th, and 15th, on which day, after a full examination of witnesses on both sides, and hearing of Counsel, it was reported without amendments, passed, and carried to the Lords.
That Lady Macclesfield was convicted of the crime of which she was accused, cannot be denied; but the question now is, whether the person calling himself Richard Savage was her son.
It has been said, that when Earl Rivers was dying, and anxious to provide for all his natural children, he was informed by Lady Macclesfield that her son by him was dead. Whether, then, shall we believe that this was a malignant lie, invented by a mother to prevent her own child from receiving the bounty of his father, which was accordingly the consequence, if the person whose life Johnson wrote, was her son; or shall we not rather believe that the person who then assumed the name of Richard Savage was an impostor, being in reality the son of the shoemaker, under whose wife's care Lady Macclesfield's child was placed; that after the death of the real Richard Savage, he attempted to personate him, and that the fraud being known to Lady Macclesfield, he was therefore repulsed by her with just resentment.
There is a strong circumstance in support of the last supposition, though it has been mentioned as an aggravation of Lady Macclesfield's unnatural conduct, and that is, her having prevented him from obtaining the benefit of a legacy left to him by Mrs. Lloyd his god-mother. For if there was such a legacy left, his not being able to obtain payment of it, must be imputed to his consciousness that he was not the real person. The just inference should be, that by the death of Lady Macclesfield's child before its god-mother, the legacy became lapsed, and therefore that Johnson's Richard Savage was an impostor. If he had a title to the legacy, he could not have found any difficulty in recovering it; for had the executors resisted his claim, the whole costs, as well as the legacy, must have been paid by them, if he had been the child to whom it was given.
The talents of Savage, and the mingled fire, rudeness, pride, meanness, and ferocity of his character
Johnson's companion appears to have persuaded that lofty-minded man, that he resembled him in having a noble pride; for Johnson, after painting in strong colours the quarrel between Lord Tyrconnel and Savage, asserts that
"the spirit of Mr. Savage, indeed, never suffered him to solicit a reconciliation; he returned reproach for reproach, and insult for insult."
But the respectable gentleman to whom I have alluded, has in his possession a letter from Savage, after Lord Tyrconnel had discarded him, addressed to the Reverend Mr. Gilbert, his Lordship's Chaplain, in which he requests him, in the humblest manner, to represent his case to the Earl.
, concur in making it credible that he was fit to plan and carry on an ambitious and daring scheme of imposture, similar instances of which have not been wanting in higher spheres, in the history of different countries, and have had a considerable degree of success.
Yet, on the other hand, to the companion of Johnson, (who through whatever medium he was conveyed into this world,—be it ever so doubtful
"To whom related, or by whom begot,"
was, unquestionably, a man of no common endowments,) we must allow the weight of general repute as to his
Status
or parentage, though illicit; and supposing him to be an impostor, it seems strange that Lord Tyrconnel, the nephew of Lady Macclesfield, should patronise him, and even admit him as a guest in his family
Trusting to Savage's information, Johnson represents this unhappy man's being received as a companion by Lord Tyrconnel, and pensioned by his Lordship, as if posteriour to Savage's conviction and pardon. But I am assured, that Savage had received the voluntary bounty of Lord Tyrconnel, and had been dismissed by him long before the murder was committed, and that his Lordship was very instrumental in procuring Savage's pardon, by his intercession with the Queen, through Lady Hertford. If, therefore, he had been desirous of preventing any publication by Savage, he would have left him to his fate. Indeed I must observe, that although Johnson mentions that Lord Tyrconnel's patronage of Savage was
"upon his promise to lay aside his design of exposing the cruelty of his mother,"
the great biographer has forgotten that he himself has mentioned, that Savage's story had been told several years before in
"The Plain Dealer,"
from which he quotes this strong saying of the generous Sir Richard Steele, that
"the inhumanity of his mother had given him a right to find every good man his father."
At the same time it must be acknowledged, that Lady Macclesfield and her relations might still wish that her story should not be brought into more conspicuous notice by the satirical pen of Savage.
. Lastly, it must ever appear very suspicious, that three different accounts of the Life of Richard Savage, one published in
"The Plain Dealer,"
in 1724, another in 1727, and another by the powerful pen of Johnson, in 1749, and all of them while Lady Macclesfield was alive, should, notwithstanding the severe attacks upon her, have been suffered to pass without any publick and effectual contradiction.
I have thus endeavoured to sum up the evidence upon the case, as fairly as I can; and the result seems to be, that the world must vibrate in a state of uncertainty as to what was the truth.
This digression, I trust, will not be censured, as it relates to a matter exceedingly curious, and very intimately connected with Johnson, both as a man and an authour
Miss Mason, after having forfeited the title of Lady Macclesfield by divorce, was married to Colonel Brett, and, it is said, was well known in all the polite circles. Colley Cibber, I am informed, had so high an opinion of her taste and judgement as to genteel life and manners, that he submitted every scene of his
"Careless Husband,"
to Mrs. Brett's revisal and correction. Colonel Brett was reported to be too free in his gallantry with his Lady's maid. Mrs. Brett came into a room one day in her own house, and found the Colonel and her maid both fast asleep in two chairs. She tied a white handkerchief round her husband's neck, which was a sufficient proof that she had discovered his intrigue; but she never at any time took notice of it to him. This incident, as I am told, gave occasion to the well-wrought scene of Sir Charles and Lady Easy and Edging.
.
He this year wrote the
"Preface to the Harleian Miscellany. *"
The selection of the pamphlets of which it was composed was made by Mr. Oldys, a man of eager curiosity and indefatigable diligence, who first exerted that spirit of inquiry into the literature of the old English writers, by which the works of our great dramatick poet have of late been so signally illustrated.
In 1745 he published a pamphlet entitled
"Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth, with Remarks on Sir T. H's (Sir Thomas Hanmer's) Edition of Shakspeare. *"
To which he affixed, proposals for a new edition of that poet.
As we do not trace any thing else published by him during the course of this year, we may conjecture that he was occupied entirely with that work. But the little encouragement which was given by the publick to his anonymous proposals for the execution of a task which Warburton was known to have undertaken, probably damped his ardour. His pamphlet, however, was highly esteemed, and was fortunate enough to obtain the approbation even of the supercilious Warburton himself, who, in the Preface to his Shakspeare published two years afterwards, thus mentioned it:
"As to all those things which have been published under the titles of
Essays, Remarks, Observations,
&c. on Shakspeare, if you except some critical notes on Macbeth, given as a specimen of a projected edition, and written, as appears, by a man of parts and genius, the rest are absolutely below a serious notice."
Of this flattering distinction shewn to him by Warburton, a very grateful remembrance was ever entertained by Johnson, who said,
"He praised me at a time when praise was of value to me."
In 1746 it is probable that he was still employed upon his Shakspeare, which perhaps he laid aside for a time, upon account of the high expectations which were formed of Warburton's edition of that great poet. It is somewhat curious, that his literary career appears to have been almost totally suspended in the years 1745 and 1746, those years which were marked by a civil war in Great-Britain, when a rash attempt was made to restore the House of Stuart to the throne. That he had a tenderness for that unfortunate House, is well known; and some may fancifully imagine, that a sympathethick anxiety impeded the exertion of his intellectual powers: but I am inclined to think, that he was, during this time, sketching the outlines of his great philological work.
None of his letters during those years are extant, so far as I can discover. This is much to be regretted. It might afford some entertainment to see how he then expressed himself to his private friends, concerning state affairs. Dr. Adams informs me, that
"at this time a favourite object which he had in contemplation was 'The Life of Alfred,' in which, from the warmth with which he spoke about it, he would, I believe, had he been master of his own will, have engaged himself, rather than on any other subject."
In 1747 it is supposed that the Gentleman's Magazine for May was enriched by him with five short poetical pieces, distinguished by three asterisks. The first is a translation, or rather a paraphrase, of a Latin Epitaph on Sir Thomas Hanmer. Whether the Latin was his, or not, I have never heard, though I should think it probably was, if it be certain that he wrote the English; as to which my only cause of doubt is, that his slighting character of Hanmer as an editor, in his
"Observations on Macbeth,"
is very different from that in the Epitaph. It may be said, that there is the same contrariety between the character in the Observations, and that in his own Preface to Shakspeare; but a considerable time elapsed between the one publication and the other, whereas the Observations and the Epitaph came close together. The others are,
"To Miss—, on her giving the Authour a gold and silk net-work Purse of her own weaving;"
"Stella in Mourning;"
"The Winter's Walk;"
"An Ode;"
and,
"To Lyce, an elderly Lady."
I am not positive that all these were his productions; but as
"The Winter's Walk,"
has never been controverted to be his, and all of them have the same mark, it is reasonable to conclude that they are all written by the same hand. Yet to the Ode, in which we find a passage very characteristick of him, being a learned description of the gout,
"Unhappy, whom to beds of pain
"Arthritick
tyranny consigns;"
there is the following note:
"The authour being ill of the gout:"
but Johnson was not attacked with that distemper till at a very late period of his life. May not this, however, be a poetical fiction? Why may not a poet suppose himself to have the gout, as well as suppose himself to be in love, of which we have innumerable instances, and which has been admirably ridiculed by Johnson in his
"Life of Cowley?"
I have also some difficulty to believe that he could produce such a group of
conceits
as appear in the verses to Lyce, in which he claims for this ancient personage as good a right to be assimilated to
heaven,
as nymphs whom other poets have flattered; he therefore ironically ascribes to her the attributes of the
sky,
in such stanzas as this:
"Her teeth the
night
with
darkness
dies,
"She's
starr'd
with pimples o'er;
"Her tongue like nimble
lightning
plies,
"And can with
thunder
roar."
But as at a very advanced age he could condescend to trifle in
namby pamby
rhymes to please Mrs. Thrale and her daughter, he may have, in his earlier years, composed such a pieoe as this.
It is remarkable, that in this first edition of
"The Winter's Walk,"
the concluding line is much more Johnsonian than it was afterwards printed; for in subsequent editions after praying Stella to
"snatch him to her arms,"
he says,
"And
shield
me from the
ills
of life."
Whereas in the first edition it is
"And
hide
me from the
sight
of life."
A horrour at life in general is more consonant with Johnson's habitual gloomy cast of thought.
I have heard him repeat with great energy the following verses, which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for April this year; but I have no authority to say they were his own. Indeed one of the best criticks of our age suggests to me, that the word
indifferently
being used in the sense of
without concern,
renders it improbable that they should have been his composition.
On Lord
LOVAT'S
Execution.
"Pity'd by
gentle minds
KILMARNOCK died;
"The
brave,
BALMERINO, were on thy side;
"RADCLIFFE, unhappy in his crimes of youth,
"Steady in what he still mistook for truth,
"Beheld his death so decently unmov'd,
"The
soft
lamented, and the
brave
approv'd.
"But LOVAT'S fate indifferently we view,
"True to no
King,
to no
religion
true:
"No
fair
forgets the
ruin
he has done;
"No
child
laments the
tyrant
of his
son;
"No
tory
pities, thinking what he was;
"No
whig
compassions,
for he left the cause;
"The
brave
regret not, for he was not brave;
"The
honest
mourn not, knowing him a knave
These verses are somewhat too severe on the extraordinary person who is the chief figure in them, for he was undoubtedly brave. His pleasantry during his solemn trial (in which, by the way, I have heard Mr. David Hume observe, that we have one of the very few speeches of Mr. Murray, now Earl of Mansfield, authentically given) was very remarkable. When asked if he had any questions to put to Sir Everard Fawkener, who was one of the strongest witnesses against him, he answered, "I only wish him joy of his young wife." And after sentence of death in the horrible terms in cases of treason was pronounced upon him, and he was retiring from the bar, he said, "Fare you well, my Lords, we shall not all meet again in one place." He behaved with perfect composure at his execution, and called out
"Dulce et decorum est pro patriâ mori."
!"
This year his old pupil and friend, David Garrick, having become joint patentee and manager of Drury-lane theatre, Johnson honoured his opening of it with a Prologue, * which for just and manly dramatick criticism, on the whole range of the English stage, as well as for poetical excellence, is unrivalled. Like the celebrated Epilogue to the
"Distressed Mother,"
it was, during the season, often called for by the audience. The most striking and brilliant passages of it have been so often repeated, and are so well recollected by all the lovers of the drama and of poetry, that it would be superfluous to point them out. In the Gentleman's Magazine for December this year, he inserted an
"Ode on Winter,"
which is, I think, an admirable specimen of his genius for lyrick poetry.
But the year 1747 is distinguished as the epoch, when Johnson's arduous and important work, his DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, was announced to the world, by the publication of its Plan or
Prospectus.
How long this immense undertaking had been the object of his contemplation, I do not know. I once asked him by what means he had attained to that astonishing knowledge of our language, by which he was enabled to realise a design of such extent, and accumulated difficulty. He told me, that
"it was not the effect of particular study; but that it had grown up in his mind insensibly."
I have been informed by Mr. James Dodsley, that several years before this period, when Johnson was one day sitting in his brother Robert's shop, he heard his brother suggest to him, that a Dictionary of the English Language would be a work that would be well received by the publick; that Johnson seemed at first to catch at the proposition, but, after a pause, said, in his abrupt decisive manner,
"I believe I shall not undertake it."
That he, however, had bestowed much thought upon the subject, before he published his
"Plan,"
is evident from the enlarged, clear, and accurate views which it exhibits; and we find him mentioning in that tract, that many of the writers whose testimonies were to be produced as authorities, were selected by Pope, which proves that he had been furnished, probably by Mr. Robert Dodsley, with whatever hints that eminent poet had contributed towards a great literary project, that had been the subject of important consideration in a former reign.
The booksellers who contracted with Johnson, single and unaided, for the execution of a work, which in other countries has not been effected but by the co-operating exertions of many, were Mr. Robert Dodsley, Mr. Charles Hitch, Mr. Andrew Millar, the two Messieurs Longman, and the two Messieurs Knapton. The price stipulated was fifteen hundred and seventy-five pounds.
The
"Plan"
was addressed to Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield, then one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, a nobleman who was very ambitious of literary distinction, and who, upon being informed of the design, had expressed himself in terms very favourable to its success. There is, perhaps, in every thing of any consequence, a secret history which it would be amusing to know, could we have it authentically communicated. Johnson told me
September 22, 1777, going from Ashbourne in Derbyshire, to see Islam.
,
"Sir, the way in which the Plan of my Dictionary came to be inscribed to Lord Chesterfield, was this: I had neglected to write it by the time appointed. Dodsley suggested a desire to have it addressed to Lord Chesterfield. I laid hold of this as a pretext for delay, that it might be better done, and let Dodsley have his desire. I said to my friend Dr. Bathurst, 'Now if any good comes of my addressing to Lord Chesterfield, it will be ascribed to deep policy, when, in fact, it was only a casual excuse for laziness."
It is worthy of observation, that the
"Plan"
has not only the substantial merit of comprehension, perspicuity, and precision, but that the language of it is unexceptionably excellent, it being altogether free from that inflation of style, and those uncommon but apt and energetick words, which in some of his writings have been censured with more petulance than justice; and never was there a more dignified strain of compliment, than that in which he courts the attention of one whom he had been persuaded to believe would be a respectable patron.
"With regard to questions of purity or propriety, (says he) I was once in doubt whether I should not attribute to myself too much in attempting to decide them, and whether my province was to extend beyond the proposition of the question, and the display of the suffrages on each side; but I have been since determined by your Lordship's opinion, to interpose my own judgement, and shall therefore endeavour to support what appears to me most consonant to
grammar and reason. Ausonius thought that modesty forbade him to plead inability for a task to which Caesar had judged him equal:
'Cur me posse negem posse quod ille putat?
Birch. MSS. Brit. Mus. 4303.
And I may hope, my Lord, that since you, whose authority in our language is so generally acknowledged, have commissioned me to declare my own opinion, I shall be considered as exercising a kind of vicarious jurisdiction, and that the power which might have been denied to my own claim, will be readily allowed me as the delegate of your Lordship."
This passage proves, that Johnson's addressing his
"Plan"
to Lord Chesterfield was not merely in consequence of the result of a report by means of Dodsley, that the Earl favoured the design; but that there had been a particular communication with his Lordship concerning it. Dr. Taylor told me, that Johnson sent his
"Plan"
to him in manuscript, for his perusal; and that when it was lying upon his table, Mr. William Whitehead happened to pay him a visit, and being shewn it, was highly pleased with such parts of it as he had time to read, and begged to take it home with him, which he was allowed to do; that from him it got into the hands of a noble Lord, who carried it to Lord Chesterfield. When Taylor observed this might be an advantage, Johnson replied,
"No, Sir; it would have come out with more bloom, if it had not been seen before by any body."
The opinion conceived of it by another noble authour, appears from the following extract of a letter from the Earl of Orrery to Dr. Birch:
Caledon,
Dec. 30, 1747.
I HAVE just now seen the specimen of Mr. Johnson's Dictionary, addressed to Lord Chesterfield. I am much pleased with the plan, and I think the specimen is one of the best that I have ever read. Most specimens disgust, rather than prejudice us in favour of the work to follow; but the language of Mr. Johnson's is good, and the arguments are properly and modestly expressed. However, some expressions may be cavilled at, but they are trifles. I'll mention one. The
barren
Laurel. The laurel is not barren, in any sense whatever; it bears fruits and flowers.
Sed hae sunt nugae,
and I have great expectations from the performance 4 .
That he was fully aware of the arduous nature of the undertaking, he acknowledges, and shews himself perfectly sensible of it in the conclusion of his
"Plan;"
but he had a noble consciousness of his own abilities, which enabled him to go on with undaunted spirit.
Dr. Adams found him one day busy at his Dictionary, when the following dialogue ensued.
"ADAMS. This is a great work, Sir. How are you to get all the etymologies? JOHNSON. Why, Sir, here is a shelf with Junius, and Skinner, and others; and there is a Welch gentleman who has published a collection of Welch proverbs, who will help me with the Welch. ADAMS. But, Sir, how can you do this in three years? JOHNSON. Sir, I have no doubt that I can do it in three years. ADAMS. But the French Academy, which consists of forty members, took forty years to compile their Dictionary. JOHNSON. Sir, thus it is. This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to a Frenchman."
With so much ease and pleasantry could he talk of that prodigious labour which he had undertaken to execute.
The publick has had, from another pen, a long detail of what had been done in this country by prior Lexicographers, and no doubt Johnson was wise to avail himself of them, so far as they went; but the learned, yet judicious research of etymology, the various, yet accurate display of definition, and the rich collection of authorities, were reserved for the superiour mind of our great philologist. For the mechanical part, he employed, as he told me, six amanuenses; and let it be remembered by the natives of North-Britain, to whom he is supposed to have been so hostile, that five of them were of that country. There were two Messieurs Macbean; Mr. Shiels, the writer of the Lives of the Poets to which the name of Cibber is affixed; Mr. Stewart, son of Mr. George Stewart, bookseller at Edinburgh; and, a Mr. Maitland. The sixth of these humble assistants was Mr. Peyton, who, I believe, taught French, and published some elementary tracts.
To all these painful labourers, Johnson shewed a never-ceasing kindness, so far as they stood in need of it. The elder Mr. Macbean had afterwards the honour of being Librarian to Archibald, Duke of Argyle, for many years, but was left without a shilling. Johnson wrote for him a Preface to
"A System of ancient Geography;"
and, by the favour of Lord Thurlow, got him admitted a poor brother of the Charterhouse. For Shiels, who died of a consumption, he had much tenderness; and it has been thought that some choice sentences in the Lives of the Poets were supplied by him. Peyton, when reduced to penury, had frequent aid from the bounty of Johnson, who at last was at the expence of burying both him and his wife.
While the Dictionary was going forward, Johnson lived part of the time in Holborn, part in Gough-square, Fleet-street; and he had an upper room fitted up like a counting-house for the purpose, in which he gave to the copyists their several tasks. The words, partly taken from other dictionaries, and partly supplied by himself, having been first written down with spaces left between them, he delivered in writing their etymologies, definitions, and various significations. The authorities were copied from the books themselves, in which he had marked the passages with a black-lead pencil, the traces of which could easily be effaced. I have seen several of them, in which that trouble had not been taken; so that they were just as when used by the copyists. It is remarkable, that he was so attentive in the choice of the passages in which words were authorised, that one may read page after page of his Dictionary with improvement and pleasure; and it should not pass unobserved, that he has quoted no authour whose writings had a tendency to hurt sound religion and morality.
The necessary expence of preparing a work of such magnitude for the press, must have been a considerable deduction from the price stipulated to be paid for the copy-right. I understand that nothing was allowed by the booksellers on that account; and I remember his telling me, that a large portion of it having, by mistake, been written upon both sides of the paper, so as to be inconvenient for the compositor, it cost him twenty pounds to have it transcribed upon one side only.
He is now to be considered as
"tugging at his oar,"
as engaged in a steady continued course of occupation, sufficient to employ all his time for some years, and which was the best preventive of that constitutional melancholy which was ever lurking about him, ready to trouble his quiet. But his enlarged and lively mind could not be satisfied without more diversity of employment, and the pleasure of animated relaxation. He therefore not only exerted his talents in occasional composition very different from Lexicography, but formed a club in Ivy-lane, Paternoster-row, with a view to enjoy literary discussion, and amuse his evening hours. The members associated with him in this little society were his beloved friend Dr. Richard Bathurst, Mr. Hawkesworth, afterwards well known by his writings, Mr. John Hawkins, an attorney
He was afterwards for several years Chairman of the Middlesex Justices, and upon occasion of presenting some address to the King, accepted the usual offer of Knighthood. He is authour of
"A History of Musick,"
in five volumes in quarto. By assiduous attendance upon Johnson in his last illness, he obtained the office of one of his executors; in consequence of which, the booksellers of London employed him to publish an edition of Dr. Johnson's works, and to write his Life.
, and a few others of different professions.
In the Gentleman's Magazine for May of this year he wrote a
"Life of Lord Roscommon, *"
with Notes, which he afterwards much improved, indented the notes into text, and inserted it amongst his Lives of the English Poets.
Mr. Dodsley this year brought out his PRECEPTOR, one of the most valuable books for the improvement of young minds that has appeared in any language; and to this meritorious work Johnson furnished
"The Preface, *"
containing a general sketch of the book, with a short and perspicuous recommendation of each article; as also,
"The Vision of Theodore the Hermit, found in his Cell, *"
a most beautiful allegory of human life, under the figure of ascending the mountain of Existence. The Bishop of Dromore heard Dr. Johnson say, that he thought this was the best thing he ever wrote.
In January, 1749, he published
"THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES, being the Tenth Satire of Juvenal imitated."
He, I believe, composed it the preceding year
Sir John Hawkins, with solemn inaccuracy, represents this poem as a consequence of the indifferent reception of his tragedy. But the fact is, that the poem was published on the 9th of January, and the tragedy was not acted till the 6th of the February following.
. Mrs. Johnson, for the sake of country air, had lodgings at Hampstead, to which he resorted occasionally, and there the greatest part, if not the whole, of this Imitation was written. The fervid rapidity with which it was produced, is scarcely credible. I have heard him say, that he composed seventy lines of it in one day, without putting one of them upon paper till they were finished. I remember when I once regretted to him that he had not given us more of Juvenal's Satires, he said he probably should give more, for he had them all in his head; by which I understood, that he had the originals and correspondent allusions floating in his mind, which he could, when he pleased, embody and render permanent without much labour. Some of them, however, he observed, were too gross for imitation.
The profits of a single poem, however excellent, appear to have been very small in the last reign, compared with what a publication of the same size has since been known to yield. I have mentioned, upon Johnson's own authority▪ that for his LONDON he had only ten guineas; and now, after his fame was established, he got for his
"Vanity of human Wishes"
but five guineas more, as is proved by an authentick document in my possession
Nov. 25, 1748. I received of Mr. Dodsley fifteen guineas, for which I assign to him the right of copy of an Imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, written by me; reserving to myself the right of printing one edition.
SAM. JOHNSON."
London,
29 June, 1786.
A true copy, from the original in Dr. Johnson's hand-writing.
JAS. DODSLEY.
.
It will be observed, that he reserves to himself the right of printing one edition of this satire, which was his practice upon occasion of the sale of all his writings; it being his fixed intention to publish at some period, for his own profit, a complete collection of his works.
His
"Vanity of human Wishes"
has less of common life, but more of a philosophick dignity than his
"London."
More readers, therefore, will be delighted with the pointed spirit of
"London,"
than with the profound reflection of
"The Vanity of human Wishes."
Garrick, for instance, observed, in his sprightly manner, with more vivacity than regard to just discrimination, as is usual with wits,
"When Johnson lived much with the Herveys, and saw a good deal of what was passing in life, he wrote his 'London,' which is lively and easy. When he became more retired, he gave us his 'Vanity of human Wishes,' which is as hard as Greek. Had he gone on to imitate another satire, it would have been as hard as Hebrew
From Mr. Langton.
."
But
"The Vanity of human Wishes"
is, in the opinion of the best judges, as high an effort of ethick poetry as any language can shew. The instances of variety of disappointment are chosen so judiciously, and painted so strongly, that, the moment they are read, they bring conviction to every thinking mind. That of the scholar must have depressed the too sanguine expectations of many an ambitious student
In this poem one of the instances mentioned of unfortunate learned men is
Lydiat:
"Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end."
The history of Lydiat being little known, the following account of him may be acceptable to many of my readers. It appeared as a note in the Supplement to the Gentleman's Magazine for 1748, in which some passages extracted from Johnson's poem were inserted, and it should have been added in the subsequent editions.—
"A very learned divine and mathematician, fellow of New College, Oxon, and Rector of Okerton, near Banbury. He wrote, among many others, a Latin treatise
"De naturâ coeli,
&c."
in which he attacked the sentiments of Scaliger and Aristotle, not bearing to hear it urged,
that some things are true in philosophy and false in divinity.
He made above 600 Sermons on the harmony of the Evangelists. Being unsuccessful in publishing his works, he lay in the prison of Bocardo at Oxford, and in the King's Bench, till Bishop Usher, Dr. Laud, Sir William Boswel, and Dr. Pink, released him by paying his debts. He petitioned King Charles I. to be sent into Ethiopia, &c. to procure MSS. Having spoken in favour of monarchy and bishops, he was plundered by the parliament forces, and twice carried away prisoner from his rectory; and afterwards had not a shirt to shift him in three months, without he borrowed it, and died very poor in 1646."
. That of the warrior, Charles of Sweden, is, I think, as highly finished a picture as can possibly be conceived.
Were all the other excellencies of this poem annihilated, it must ever have our grateful reverence from its noble conclusion; in which we are consoled with the assurance that happiness may be attained, if we
"apply our hearts"
to piety:
"Where then shall hope and fear their objects find?
"Shall dull suspense corrupt the stagnant mind?
"Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,
"Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?
"Shall no dislike alarm, no wishes rise,
"No cries attempt the mercy of the skies?
"Enthusiast, cease; petitions yet remain,
"Which heav'n may hear, nor deem religion vain.
"Still raise for good the supplicating voice,
"But leave to heav'n the measure and the choice.
"Safe in his hand, whose eye discerns afar
"The secret ambush of a specious pray'r;
"Implore his aid, in his decisions rest,
"Secure whate'er he gives he gives the best.
"Yet when the sense of sacred presence fires,
"And strong devotion to the skies aspires,
"Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind,
"Obedient passions, and a will resign'd;
"For love, which scarce collective man can fill,
"For patience sovereign o'er transmuted ill;
"For faith, which panting for a happier seat,
"Counts death kind Nature's signal for retreat.
"These goods for man the laws of heaven ordain,
"These goods he grants, who grants the power to gain;
"With these celestial wisdom calms the mind,
"And makes the happiness she does not find."
Garrick being now vested with theatrical power by being manager of Drurylane theatre, he kindly and generously made use of it to bring out Johnson's tragedy, which had been long kept back for want of encouragement. But in this benevolent purpose he met with no small difficulty from the temper of Johnson, which could not brook that a drama which he had formed with much study, and had been obliged to keep more than the nine years of Horace, should be revised and altered at the pleasure of an actor. Yet Garrick knew well, that without some alterations it would not he fit for the stage. A violent dispute having ensued between them, Garrick applied to the Reverend Dr. Taylor to interpose. Johnson was at first very obstinate.
"Sir, (said he) the fellow wants me to make Mahomet run mad, that be may have an opportunity of tossing his hands and kicking his heels
Mahomet was, in fact, played by Mr. Barry, and Demetrius by Mr. Garrick; but probably at this time the parts were not yet cast.
."
He was, however, at last, with difficulty, prevailed on to comply with Garrick's wishes, so as to allow of some changes; but still there were not enough.
Dr. Adams was present the first night of the representation of IRENE, and gave me the following account:
"Before the curtain drew up, there were catcalls whistling, which alarmed Johnson's friends. The Prologue, which was written by himself in a manly strain, soothed the audience
The expression used by Dr. Adams was
"soothed."
I should rather think the audience was
awed
by the extraordinary spirit and dignity of the following lines:
"Be this at least his praise, be this his pride,
"To force applause no modern arts are tried:
"Should partial catcalls all his hopes confound,
"He bids no trumpet quell the fatal sound;
"Should welcome sleep relieve the weary wit,
"He rolls no thunders o'er the drowsy pit;
"No snares to captivate the judgement spreads,
"Nor bribes your eyes to prejudice your heads.
"Unmov'd, though witlings sneer and rivals rail,
"Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail,
"He scorns the meek address, the suppliant strain,
"With merit needless, and without it vain:
"In Reason, Nature, Truth, he dares to trust;
"Ye fops be silent, and ye wits be just!"
, and the play went off tolerably till it came to the conclusion, when Mrs. Pritchard, the heroine of the piece, was to be strangled upon the stage, and was to speak two lines with the bow-string round her neck. The audience cried out
"Murder, murder."
She several times attempted to speak, but in vain. At last she was obliged to go off the stage alive."
This passage was afterwards struck out, and she was carried off to be put to death behind the scenes, as the play now has it. The Epilogue was written by Sir William Young. I know not how Johnson's play came to be thus graced by the pen of a person then so eminent in the political world.
Notwithstanding all the support of such performers as Garrick, Barry, Mrs. Cibber, Mrs. Pritchard, and every advantage of dress and decoration, the tragedy of Irene did not please the publick. Mr. Garrick's zeal carried it through for nine nights, so that the authour had his three nights' profits; and from a receipt signed by him, now in the hands of Mr. James Dodsley, it appears that his friend Mr. Robert Dodsley gave him one hundred pounds for the copy, with his usual reservation of the right of one edition.
IRENE, considered as a poem, is intitled to the praise of superiour excellence. Analysed into parts, it will furnish a rich store of noble sentiments, fine imagery, and beautiful language; but it is deficient in pathos, in that delicate power of touching the human feelings, which is the principal end of the drama. Indeed Garrick has complained to me, that Johnson not only had not the faculty of producing the impressions of tragedy, but that he had not the sensibility to perceive them. His great friend Mr. Walmsley's prediction, that he would
"turn out a fine tragedy-writer,"
was, therefore, ill founded. Johnson was wise enough to be convinced that he had not the talents necessary to write successfully for the stage, and never made another attempt in that species of composition.
When asked how he felt upon the ill success of his tragedy, he replied,
"Like the Monument;"
meaning that he continued firm and unmoved as that column. And let it be remembered, as an admonition to the
genus irritabile
of dramatick writers, that this great man, instead of peevishly complaining of the bad taste of the town, submitted to its decision without a murmur. He had, indeed, upon all occasions a great deference for the general opinion:
"A man (said he) who writes a book, thinks himself wiser or wittier than the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct or amuse them, and the publick to whom he appeals, must, after all, be the judges of his pretensions."
On occasion of his play being brought upon the stage, Johnson had a fancy that as a dramatick authour his dress should be more gay than what he ordinarily wore; he therefore appeared behind the scenes, and even in one of the side boxes, in a scarlet waistcoat, with rich gold lace. His necessary attendance while his play was in rehearsal, and during its performance, brought him acquainted with many of the performers of both sexes, which produced a more favourable opinion of their profession than he ha
arshly expressed in his Life of Savage. With some of them he kept up an acquaintance as long as he and they lived, and was ever ready to shew them acts of kindness. He for a considerable time used to frequent the
Green Room,
and seemed to take delight in dissipating his gloom, by mixing in the sprightly chit-chat of the motley circle then to be found there. Mr. David Hume related to me from Mr. Garrick, that Johnson at last denied himself this amusement, from considerations of rigid virtue; saying,
"I'll come no more behind your scenes, David; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities."
In 1750 he came forth in the character for which he was eminently qualified, a majestick teacher of moral and religious wisdom. The vehicle which he chose was that of a periodical paper, which he knew had been, upon former occasions, employed with great success. The Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian, were the last of the kind published in England, which had stood the test of a long trial; and such an interval had now elapsed since their publication, as made him justly think that, to many of his readers, this form of instruction would, in some degree, have the advantage of novelty. A few days before the first of his Essays came out, there started another competitor for same in the same form, under the title of
"The Tatler Revived,"
which I believe was
"born but to die."
Johnson was, I think, not very happy in the choice of his title,
"The Rambler,"
which certainly is not suited to a series of grave and moral discourses; which the Italians have literally, but ludicrously, translated by
Il Vagabondo;
and which has been lately assumed as the denomination of a vehicle of licentious tales,
"The Rambler's Magazine."
He gave Sir Joshua Reynolds the following account of its getting this name:
"What
must
be done, Sir,
will
be done. When I was to begin publishing that paper, I was at a loss how to name it. I sat down at night upon my bedside, and resolved that I would not go to sleep till I had fixed its title. The Rambler seemed the best that occurred, and I took it
I have heard Dr. Warton mention, that he was at Mr. Robert Dodsley's with the late Mr. Moore, and several others of his friends, considering what should be the name of the periodical paper which Moore had undertaken. Garrick proposed the
Sallad,
which, by a curious coincidence, was afterwards applied to himself by Goldsmith:
"Our Garrick's a sallad, for in him we see
"Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree!"
At last the company having separated, without any thing of which they approved having been offered, Dodsley himself thought of
The World.
.
With what devout and conscientious sentiments this paper was undertaken, is evidenced by the following prayer, which he composed and offered up on the occasion:
"Almighty GOD, the giver of all good things, without whose help all labour is ineffectual, and without whose grace all wisdom is folly;
grant, I beseech Thee, that in this undertaking thy Holy Spirit may not be with-held from me, but that I may promote thy glory, and the salvation of myself and others: grant this, O LORD, for the sake of thy son JESUS CHRIST. Amen
Prayers and Meditations, p. 9.
."
The first paper of the Rambler was published on Tuesday the 20th of March, 1750; and its authour was enabled to continue it, without interruption, every Tuesday and Friday, till Saturday the 17th of March, 1752, on which day it closed. This is a strong confirmation of the truth of a remark of his, which I have had occasion to quote elsewhere
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 28.
, that
"a man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it;"
for, notwithstanding his constitutional indolence, his depression of spirits, and his labour in carrying on his Dictionary, he answered the stated calls of the press twice a week from the stores of his mind, during all that time having received no assistance, except four billets in No. 10 by Miss Mulso, now Mrs. Chapone; No. 30, by Mrs. Catharine Talbot; No. 97, by Mr. Samuel Richardson, whom he describes in an introductory note as
"An authour who has enlarged the knowledge of human nature, and taught the passions to move at the command of virtue;"
and Numbers 44 and 100, by Mrs. Elizabeth Carter.
Posterity will be astonished when they are told, upon the authority of Johnson himself, that many of these discourses, which we should suppose had been laboured with all the slow attention of literary leisure, were writen in haste as the moment pressed, without even being read over by him before they were printed. It can be accounted for only in this way; that by reading and meditation, and a very close inspection of life, he had accumulated a great fund of miscellaneous knowledge, which, by a peculiar promptitude of mind, was ever ready at his call, and which he had constantly accustomed himself to clothe in the most apt and energetick expression. Sir Joshua Reynolds once asked him by what means he had attained his extraordinary accuracy and flow of language. He told him, that he had early laid it down as a fixed rule to do his best on every occasion, and in every company; to impart whatever he knew in the most forcible language he could put it in; and that by constant practice, and never suffering any careless expressions to escape him, or attempting to deliver his thoughts without arranging them in the clearest manner, it became habitual to him.
Yet he was not altogether unprepared as a periodical writer; for I have in my possession a small duodecimo volume, in which he has written, in the form of Mr. Locke's Common-Place Book, a variety of hints for essays on different subjects. He has marked upon the first blank leaf of it,
"To the 128th page, collections for the RAMBLER;"
and in another place,
"In fifty-two there were seventeen provided; in 97—21; in 190—25."
At a subsequent period (probably after the work was finished) he added,
"In all, taken of provided materials, 30."
Sir John Hawkins, who is unlucky upon all occasions, tells us, that
"this method of accumulating intelligence had been practised by Mr. Addison, and is humourously described in one of the Spectators, wherein he feigns to have dropped his paper of
notanda,
consisting of a diverting medley of broken sentences and loose hints, which he tells us he had collected, and meant to make use of. Much of the same kind is Johnson's Adversaria
Hawkin's Life of Johnson, p. 268.
."
But the truth is, that there is no resemblance at all between them. Addison's note was a fiction, in which unconnected fragments of his lucubrations were purposely jumbled together, in as odd a manner as he could, in order to produce a laughable effect. Whereas Johnson's abbreviations are all distinct, and applicable to each subject of which the head is mentioned.
For instance, there is the following specimen:
Youth's Entry, &c.
Baxter's account of things in which he had changed his mind as he grew up. Voluminous.—No wonder.—If every man was to tell, or mark, on how many subjects he has changed, it would make vols. but the changes not always observed by mans self.—From pleasure to bus.
[business.]
to quiet; from thoughtfulness to reflect. to piety; from dissipation to domestic. by impercept. gradat. but the change is certain. Dial
non progredi, progress. esse conspicimus.
Look back, consider what was thought at some dist. period.
Hope predom. in youth. Mind not willingly indulges unpleasing thoughts.
The world lies all enameld before him, as a distant prospect sun-gilt
This most beautiful image of the enchanting delusion of youthful prospect has not been used in any of Johnson's essays.
;—inequalities only found by coming to it.
Love is to be all joy—children excellent
—Fame to be constant—caresses of the great—applauses of the learned—smiles of Beauty.
Fear of disgrace—Bashfulness
—Finds things of less importance. Miscarriages forgot like excellencies;—if remembered, of no import. Danger of sinking into negligence of reputation. Lest the fear of disgrace destroy activity.
Confidence in himself.
Long tract of life before him.—No thought of sickness.—Embarrasment of affairs.—Distraction of family.—Publick calamities.—No sense of the prevalence of bad habits.—Negligent of time—ready to undertake—careless to pursue—all changed by time.
Confident of others
—unsuspecting as unexperienced—imagining himself secure against neglect, never imagines they will venture to treat him ill. Ready to trust; expecting to be trusted. Convinced by time of the selfishness, the meanness, the cowardice, the treachery of men.
Youth ambitious, as thinking honours easy to be had.
Different kinds of praise pursued at different periods. Of the gay in youth. dang. hurt, &c. despised.
Of the fancy in manhood. Ambit.—stocks—bargains.—Of the wise and sober in old age—seriousness—formality—maxims, but general—only of the rich, otherwise age is happy—but at last every thing referred to riches—no having fame, honour, influence, without subjection to caprice.
Horace.
Hard it would be if men entered life with the same views with which they leave it, or left as they enter it.—No hope—no undertaking—no regard to benevolence—no fear of disgrace, &c.
Youth to be taught the piety of age—age to retain the honour of youth.
This, it will be observed, is the sketch of No. 196 of the Rambler. I shall gratify my readers with another specimen:
Confederacies difficult; why.
Seldom in war a match for single persons—nor in peace; therefore kings make themselves absolute. Confederacies in learning—every great work the work of one.
Bruy.
Scholars' friendship like ladies. Scribebamus, &c. Mart. The apple of discord—the laurel of discord—the poverty of criticism. Swift's opinion of the power of six geniuses united. That union scarce possible. His remarks just;—man a social, not steady nature. Drawn to man by words, repelled by passions. Orb drawn by attraction rep.
[repelled]
by centifrugal.
Common danger unites by crushing other passions—but they return. Equality hinders compliance. Superiority produces insolence and envy. Too much regard in each to private interest—too little.
The mischiefs of private and exclusive societies—the fitness of social attraction diffused through the whole. The mischiefs of too partial love of our country. Contraction of moral duties
.
Every man moves upon his own center, and therefore repels others from too near a contact, though he may comply with some general laws.
Of confederacy with superiours, every one knows the inconvenience. With equals, no authority;—every man his own opinion—his own interest.
Man and wife hardly united;—scarce ever without children. Computation, if two to one against two, how many against five? If confederacies were easy—useless;—many oppresses many.—If possible only to some, dangerous.
Principum amicitias.
Here we see the embryo of No. 45 of the Adventurer; and it is a confirmation of what I have mentioned, that the papers in that collection marked T. were written by Johnson.
This scanty preparation of materials will not, however, much diminish our wonder at the extraordinary fertility of his mind: for the proportion which they bear to the number of essays which he wrote, is very small; and it is remarkable, that those for which he had made no preparation, are as rich and as highly finished, as those for which the hints were lying by him. It is also to be observed, that the papers formed from his hints are worked up with such strength and elegance, that we almost lose sight of the hints, which become like
"drops in the bucket."
Indeed, in several instances, he has made a very slender use of them, so that many of them remain still unapplied
Sir John Hawkins has selected from this little collection of materials, what he calls the
"Rudiments of two of the papers of the Rambler."
But he has not been able to read the manuscript distinctly. Thus he writes, p. 266,
"Sailors fate any mansion;"
whereas the original is
"Sailor's life my aversion."
He has also transcribed the unappropriated hints on
Writers for bread,
in which he decyphers these notable passages, one in Latin,
fatui non famae,
instead of
fami non famae;
Johnson having in his mind what Thuanus says of the learned German antiquary and linguist, Xylander, who, he tells us, lived in such poverty, that he was supposed
fami non famae scribere;
and another in French,
Degente de fate et affame d'argent,
instead of
Degouté de fame,
(an old word for
fame) et affamé d'argent.
The manuscript being written in an exceedingly small hand, is indeed very hard to read; but it would have been better to have lest blanks than to write nonsense.
.
As the Rambler was entirely the work of one man, there was, of course, such an uniformity in its texture, as very much to exclude the charm of variety; and the grave and often solemn cast of thinking, which distinguished it from other periodical papers, made it, for some time, not generally liked. So slowly did this excellent work, of which twelve editions have now issued from the press, gain upon the world at large, that even in the closing number the authour says,
"I have never been much a favourite of the publick."
Yet, very soon after its commencement, there were who felt and acknowledged its uncommon excellence. Verses in its praise appeared in the newspapers; and the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine mentions, in October, his having received several letters to the same purpose from the learned.
"The Student, or Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany,"
in which Mr. Bonnell Thornton and Mr. Colman were the principal writers, describes it as
"a work that exceeds any thing of the kind ever published in this kingdom, some of the Spectators excepted,—if indeed they may be excepted."
And afterwards,
"May the publick favours crown his merits, and may not the English, under the auspicious reign of GEORGE the Second, neglect a man, who, had he lived in the first century, would have been one of the greatest favourites of AUGUSTUS."
This flattery of the monarch had no effect. It is too well known, that the second George never was an Augustus to learning or genius.
Johnson told me, with an amiable fondness, a little pleasing circumstance relative to this work. Mrs. Johnson, in whose judgement and taste he had great confidence, said to him, after a few numbers of the Rambler had come out,
"I thought very well of you before; but I did not imagine you could have written any thing equal to this."
Distant praise, from whatever quarter, is not so delightful as that of a wife whom a man loves and esteems. Her approbation may be said to
"come home to his
bosom;"
and being so near, its effect is most sensible and permanent.
Mr. James Elphinston, who has since published various works, and who was ever esteemed by Johnson as a worthy man, happened to be in Scotland while the Rambler was coming out in single papers at London. With a laudable zeal at once for the improvement of his countrymen and the reputation of his friend, he suggested and took the charge of an edition of those Essays at Edinburgh, which followed progressively the London publication
It was executed in the printing-office of Sands, Murray, and Cochran, with uncommon elegance, upon writing paper, of a duodecimo size, and with the greatest correctness; and Mr. Elphinston enriched it with translations of the mottos. When completed, it made eight handsome volumes. It is, unquestionably, the most accurate and beautiful edition of this work; and there being but a small impression, it is now become scarce, and sells at a very high price.
.
The following letter written at this time, though not dated, will show how much pleased Johnson was with this publication, and what kindness and regard he had for Mr. Elphinston.
To Mr.
JAMES ELPHINSTON.
DEAR SIR,
[No date.]
I CANNOT but confess the failures of my correspondence, but hope the same regard which you express for me on every other occasion, will incline you to forgive me. I am often, very often, ill; and, when I am well, am obliged to work: and, indeed, have never much used myself to punctuality. You are, however, not to make unkind inferences, when I forbear to reply to your kindness; for be assured, I never receive a letter from you without great pleasure, and a very warm sense of your generosity and friendship, which I heartily blame myself for not cultivating with more care. In this, as in many other cases, I go wrong, in opposition to conviction; for I think scarce any temporal good equally to be desired with the regard and familiarity of worthy men. I hope we shall be some time nearer to each other, and have a more ready way of pouring out our hearts.
I am glad that you still find encouragement to proceed in your publication, and shall beg the favour of six more volumes to add to my former six, when you can, with any convenience, send them me. Please to present a set, in my name, to Mr. Ruddiman
Mr. Thomas Ruddiman, the learned grammarian of Scotland, well known for his various excellent works, and for his accurate editions of several authours. He was also a man of a most worthy private character. His zeal for the Royal House of Stuart did not render him less estimable in Dr. Johnson's eye.
, of whom, I hear, that his learning is not his highest excellence. I have transcribed the mottos, and returned them, I hope not too late, of which I think many very happily performed. Mr. Cave has put the last in the magazine, in which I think he did well. I beg of you to write soon, and to write often, and to write long letters, which I hope in time to repay you; but you must be a patient creditor. I have, however, this of gratitude, that I think of you with regard, when I do not, perhaps, give the proofs which I ought, of being, Sir,
Your most obliged and most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Soon after this he wrote to the same gentleman another letter, upon a mournful occasion.
To Mr.
JAMES ELPHINSTON.
DEAR SIR,
September 25, 1750.
YOU have, as I find by every kind of evidence, lost an excellent mother; and I hope you will not think me incapable of partaking of your grief. I have a mother, now eighty-two years of age, whom, therefore, I must soon lose, unless it please GOD that she rather should mourn for me. I read the leters in which you relate your mother's death to Mrs. Strahan, and think I do myself honour, when I tell you that I read them with tears; but tears are neither to
you
nor to
me
of any further use, when once the tribute of nature has been paid. The business of life summons us away from useless grief, and calls us to the exercise of those virtues of which we are lamenting our deprivation. The greatest benefit which one friend can confer upon another, is to guard, and excite, and elevate his virtues. This your mother will still perform, if you diligently preserve the memory of her life, and of her death: a life, so far as I can learn, useful, wise, and innocent; and a death resigned, peaceful, and holy. I cannot forbear to mention, that neither reason nor revelation denies you to hope, that you may increase her happiness by obeying her precepts; and that she may in her present state look with pleasure upon every act of virtue to which her instructions or example have contributed. Whether this be more than a pleasing dream, or a just opinion of separate spirits, is, indeed, of no great importance to us, when we consider ourselves as acting under the eye of GOD: yet, surely, there is something pleasing in the belief, that our separation from those whom we love is merely corporeal; and it may be a great incitement to virtuous friendship, if it can be made probable, that that union that has received the divine approbation shall continue to eternity.
There is one expedient by which you may, in some degree, continue her presence. If you write down minutely what you remember of her from your earliest years, you will read it with great pleasure, and receive from it many hints of soothing reollection, when time shall remove her yet farther from you, and your grief shall be matured to veneration. To this, however painful for the present, I cannot but advise you, as to a source of comfort and satisfaction in the time to come; for all comfort and all satisfaction is sincerely wished you by, dear Sir,
Your most obliged, most obedient, And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
The Rambler has increased in fame as in age. Soon after its first folio edition was concluded, it was published in four octavo volumes; and its authour lived to see ten numerous editions of it in London, beside those of Ireland and Scotland.
I profess myself to have ever entertained a profound veneration for the astonishing force and vivacity of mind, which the Rambler exhibits. That Johnson had penetration enough to see, and seeing would not disguise the general misery of man in this state of being, may have given rise to the superficial notion of his being too stern a philosopher. But men of reflection will be sensible that he has given a true representation of human existence, and that he has, at the same time, with a generous benevolence, displayed every consolation which our state affords us; not only those arising from the hopes of futurity, but such as may be attained in the immediate progress through life. He has not depressed the soul to despondency and indifference. He has every where inculcated study, labour, and exertion. Nay, he has shewn, in a very odious light, a man whose practice is to go about darkening the views of others, by perpetual complaints of evil, and awakening those considerations of danger and distress, which are, for the most part, lulled into a quiet oblivion. This he has done very strongly in his character of Suspirius
No. 55.
, from which Goldsmith took that of Croaker, in his comedy of
"The Good-natured Man,"
as Johnson told me he acknowledged to him, and which is, indeed, very obvious.
To point out the numerous subjects which the Rambler treats with a dignity and perspicuity which are there united in a manner which we shall in vai
look for any where else, would take up too large a portion of my book, a
would, I trust, be superfluous, considering how universally those volumes
now disseminated. Even the most condensed and brilliant sentences
they contain, and which have very properly been selected under the
of
"BEAUTIES
Dr. Johnson was gratified by seeing this selection, and wrote to Mr. Kearsley, bookseller in Fleet-street, the following note:
Mr. Johnson sends compliments to Mr. Kearsley, and begs the favour of seeing him as soon as he can. Mr. Kearsley is desired to bring with him the last edition of what he has honoured with the name of BEAUTIES.
May 20, 1782.
,"
are of considerable bulk. But I may shortly observe, that the Rambler furnishes such an assemblage of discourses on▪ practical religion and moral duty, of critical investigations, and allegorical and oriental tales, that no mind can be thought very deficient that has, by constant study and meditation, assimilated to itself all that may be found there. No. 7, written in Passion-week on abstraction and self-examination, and No. 110, on penitence and the placability of the Divine Nature, cannot be too often read. No. 54, on the effect which the death of a friend should have upon us, though rather too dispiriting, may be occasionally very medicinal to the mind. Every one must suppose the writer to have been deeply impressed by a real scene; but he told me that was not the case, which shews how well his fancy could conduct him to the house of mourning. Some of these more solemn papers, I doubt not, particularly attracted the notice of Dr. Young, the authour of
"The Night Thoughts,"
of whom my estimation is such, as to reckon his applause an honour even to Johnson. I have seen some volumes of Dr. Young's copy of the Rambler, in which he has marked the passages which he thought particularly excellent, by folding down a corner of the page; and such as he rated in a super-eminent degree, are marked by double folds. I am sorry that some of the volumes are lost. Johnson was pleased when told of the minute attention with which Young had signified his approbation of his Essays.
I will venture to say, that in no writings whatever can be found more
bark and steel for the mind,
if I may use the expression; more that can brace and invigorate every manly and noble sentiment. No. 32 on patience, even under extreme misery, is wonderfully lofty, and as much above the rant of stoicism, as the Sun of Revelation is brighter than the twilight of Pagan philosophy. I never read the following sentence without feeling my frame thrill:
"I think there is some reason for questioning whether the body and mind are not so proportioned, that the one can bear all which can be inflicted on the other; whether virtue cannot stand its ground as long as life, and whether a soul well principled will not be sooner separated than subdued."
Though instruction be the predominant purpose of the Rambler, yet it is enlivened with a considerable portion of amusement. Nothing can be more erroneous than the notion which some persons have entertained, that Johnson was then a retired authour, ignorant of the world; and, of consequence, that he wrote only from his imagination when he described characters and manners. He said to me, that before he wrote that work, he had been
"running about the world,"
as he expressed it, more than almost any body; and I have heard him relate, with much satisfaction, that several of the characters in the Rambler were drawn so naturally, that when it first circulated in numbers, a club in one of the towns in Essex imagined themselves to be severally exhibited in it, and were much incensed against a person who, they suspected, had thus made them objects of publick notice; nor were they quieted till authenticl assurance was given them, that the Rambler was written by a person who had never heard of any one of them. Some of the characters are believed to hav been actually drawn from the life, particularly that of Prospero from Garrick who never entirely forgave its pointed satire. For instances of fertility of fancy, and accurate description of real life, I appeal to No. 19, a man who wanders from one profession to another, with most plausible reasons for every change. No. 34, female fastidiousness and timorous refinement. No. 82, Virtuoso who has collected curiosities. No. 88, petty modes of entertaining company, and conciliating kindness. No. 182, fortune-hunting. No. 194—195 a tutor's account of the follies of his pupil. No. 197—198, legacy-hunting He has given a specimen of his nice observation of the mere external appearances of life, in this passage in No. 179, against affectation, that frequent and most disgusting quality:
"He that stands to contemplate the crouds that fil the streets of a populous city, will see many passengers whose air and motion it will be difficult to behold without contempt and laughter; but if he examine what are the appearances that thus powerfully excite his risibility, he will find among them neither poverty nor disease, nor any involuntary or painful defect The disposition to derision and insult, is awakened by the softness of foppery the swell of insolence, the liveliness of levity, or the solemnity of grandeur by the sprightly trip, the stately stalk, the formal strut, and the lofty mien by gestures intended to catch the eye, and by looks elaborately formed a evidences of importance."
Every page of the Rambler shews a mind teeming with classical allusion and poetical imagery: illustrations from other writers are, upon all occasions so ready, and mingle so easily in his periods, that the whole appears of one uniform vivid texture.
The style of this work has been censured by some shallow criticks as involved and turgid, and abounding with antiquated and hard words. So ill founded is the first part of this objection, that I will challenge all who may honour this book with a perusal, to point out any English writer whose language conveys his meaning with equal force and perspicuity. It must, indeed, be allowed, that the structure of his sentences is expanded, and often has somewhat of the inversion of Latin; and that he delighted to express familiar thoughts in philosophical language; being in this the reverse of Socrates, who, it was said, reduced philosophy to the simplicity of common life. But let us attend to what he himself says in his concluding paper:
"When common words were less pleasing to the ear, or less distinct in their signification, I have familiarised the terms of philosophy, by applying them to popular ideas
Yet his style did not escape the harmless shafts of pleasant humour; for the ingenious Bonnell Thornton published a mock Rambler in the Drury-lane Journal.
."
And, as to the second part of this objection, upon a late careful revision of the work, I can with confidence say, that it is amazing how few of those words, for which it has been unjustly characterised, are actually to be found in it; I am sure, not the proportion of one to each paper. This idle charge has been echoed from one babbler to another, who have confounded Johnson's Essays with Johnson's Dictionary; and because he thought it right in a Lexicon of our language to collect many words which had fallen into disuse, but were supported by great authorities, it has been imagined that all of these have been interwoven into his own compositions. That some of them have been adopted by him unnecessarily, may, perhaps, be allowed; but, in general they are evidently an advantage, for without them his stately ideas would be confined and cramped.
"He that thinks with more extent than another, will want words of larger meaning
Idler, No. 70.
."
He once told me, that he had formed his style upon that of Sir William Temple, and upon Chambers's Proposal for his Dictionary. He certainly was mistaken; or if he imagined at first that he was imitating Temple, he was very unsuccessful; for nothing can be more unlike than the simplicity of Temple, and the richness of Johnson. Their styles differ as plain cloth and brocade. Temple, indeed, seems equally erroneous in supposing that he himself had formed his style upon Sandys's History of all Religions.
The style of Johnson was, undoubtedly, much formed upon that of the great writers in the last century, Hooker, Bacon, Sanderson, Hakewell, and others; those
"GIANTS,"
as they were well characterised by one whose authority, were I to name him, would stamp a reverence on the opinion.
We may, with the utmost propriety, apply to his learned style that passage of Horace, a part of which he has taken as the motto to his Dictionary:
"Cum tabulis animum censoris sumet honesti:
"Audebit quaecumque parùm splendoris habebunt
"Et sine pondere erunt, et honore indigna ferentur,
"Verba movere loco, quamvis invita recedant,
"Et versentur adbuc intra penetralia Vestae.
"Obscurata diu populo bonus eruet, atque
"Proferet in lucem speciosa vocabula rerum,
"Quae priscis memorata Catonibus atque Cethegis,
"Nunc situs informis premit et deserta vetustas:
"Adsciscet nova, quae genitor produxerit usus:
"Vehemens, et liquidus, puroque simillimus amni,
"Fundet opes Latiumque beabit divite linguâ
Horat. Epist. Lib. II. Epist. ii.
."
To so great a master of thinking, to one of such vast and various knowledge as Johnson, might have been allowed a liberal indulgence of that licence which Horace claims in another place:
"—Si fortè necesse est
"Indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum,
"Fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis
"Continget, dabiturque licentia sumpta pudenter:
"Et nova fictaque nuper habebunt verba fidem si
"Graeco fonte cadant, parce detorta. Quid autem
"Caecilio Plautoque dabit Romanus, ademptum
"Virgilio Varioque? Ego cur, acquirere pauca
"Si possum, invideor; cum lingua Catonis et Enni
"Sermonem patrium ditaverit, et nova rerum
"Nomina protulerit? Licuit semperque licebit
"Signatum praesente notâ producere nomen
Horat. De Arte Poeticâ.
."
Yet Johnson assured me, that he had not taken upon him to add more than four or five words to the English language, of his own formation; and he was very much offended at the general licence by no means
"modestly taken"
in his time, not only to coin new words, but to use many words in senses quite different from their established meaning, and those frequently very fantastical.
Sir Thomas Brown, whose life Johnson wrote, was remarkably fond of Anglo-Latian diction; and to his example we are to ascribe Johnson's sometimes indulging himself in this kind of phraseology
The observation of his having imitated Sir Thomas Brown has been made by many people; and lately it has been insisted on and illustrated by a variety of quotations from Brown in one of the popular Essays written by the Reverend Mr. Knox, master of Tunbridge school, whom I have set down in my list of those who have sometimes not unsuccessfully imitated Dr. Johnson's style.
. Johnson's comprehension of mind was the mould for his language. Had his conceptions been narrower, his expression would have been easier. His sentences have a dignified march; and, it is certain, that his example has given a general elevation to the language of his country, for many of our best writers have approached very near to him; and, from the influence which he has had upon our composition, scarcely any thing is written now that is not better expressed than was usual before he appeared to lead the national taste.
This circumstance, the truth of which must strike every critical reader, has been so happily enforced by Mr. Courtenay, in his
"Moral and Literary Character of Dr. Johnson,"
that I cannot prevail on myself to withhold it, notwithstanding his, perhaps, too great partiality for one of his friends:
"By Nature's gifts ordain'd mankind to rule,
"He, like a Titian, form'd his brilliant school;
"And taught congenial spirits to excel,
"While from his lips impressive wisdom fell.
"Our boasted GOLDSMITH felt the sovereign sway;
"From him deriv'd the sweet, yet nervous lay.
"To Fame's proud cliff he bade our Raphael rise;
"Hence REYNOLDS' pen with REYNOLDS' pencil vies▪
"With Johnson's flame melodious BURNEY glows,
"While the grand strain in smoother cadence flows.
"And you, MALONE, to critick learning dear,
"Correct and elegant, refin'd, though clear,
"By studying him, acquir'd that classick taste,
"Which high in Shakspeare's fane thy statue plac'd.
"Near Johnson STEEVENS stands, on scenick ground▪
"Acute, laborious, fertile, and profound.
"Ingenious HAWKESWORTH to this school we owe,
"And scarce the pupil from the tutor know.
"Here early parts accomplish'd JONES sublimes,
"And science blends with Asia's lofty rhymes:
"Harmonious JONES! who in his splendid strains
"Sings Camdeo's sports, on Agra's flowery plains;
"In Hindu fictions while we fondly trace
"Love and the Muses, deck'd with Attick grace.
"Amid these names can BOSWELL be forgot,?
"Scarce by North Britons now esteem'd a Scot
The following observation in Mr. Boswell's
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
may sufficiently account for that gentleman's being "now scarcely esteem'd a Scot" by many of his countrymen: "If he [Dr. Johnson] was particularly prejudiced against the Scots, it was because they were more in his way; because he thought their success in England rather exceeded the due proportion of their real merit; and because he could not but see in them that nationality which, I believe, no liberal-minded Scotchman will deny." Mr. Boswell, indeed, is so free from national prejudices, that he might with equal propriety have been described as—
"Scarce by
South
Britons now esteem'd a Scot."
COURTENAY.
?
"Who to the sage devoted from his youth,
"Imbib'd from him the sacred love of truth;
"The keen research, the exercise of mind,
"And that best art, the art to know mankind.—
"Nor was his energy confin'd alone
"To friends around his philosophick throne;
"Its influence wide improv'd our letter'd isle,
"And lucid vigour mark'd the general style:
"As Nile's proud waves, swol'n from their oozy bed,
"First o'er the neighbouring meads majestick spread;
"Till gathering force they more and more expand,
"And with new virtue fertilise the land."
Johnson's language, however, must be allowed to be too masculine for the delicate gentleness of female writing. His ladies, therefore, seem strangely formal, even to ridicule; and seem well denominated by the names which he has given them, as, Misella, Zozima, Properantia, Rhodoclia.
It has of late been the fashion to compare the style of Addison and Johnson, and to depreciate, I think very unjustly, the style of Addison as nerveless and feeble, because it has not the strength and energy of that of Johnson. Their prose may be balanced like the poetry of Dryden and Pope. Both are excellent, though in different ways. Addison writes with the ease of a gentleman. His readers fancy that a wise and accomplished companion is talking to them, so that he insinuates his sentiments and taste into their minds by an imperceptible influence. Johnson writes like a teacher. He dictates to his readers as if from an academical chair. They attend with awe and admiration; and his precepts are impressed upon them by his commanding eloquence. Addison's style, like a light wine, pleases every body from the first. Johnson's, like a liquor of more body, seems too strong at first, but, by degrees, is highly relished; and such is the melody of his periods, so much do they captivate the ear, and seize upon the attention, that there is scarcely any writer, however inconsiderable, who does not aim, in some degree, at the same species of excellence. But let us not ungratefully undervalue that beautiful style, which has pleasingly conveyed to us much instruction and entertainment. Though comparatively weak, when opposed to Johnson's Herculean vigour, let us not call it positively feeble. Let us remember the character of his style, as given by Johnson himself:
"What he attempted, he performed; he is
never feeble,
and he did not wish to be energetick; he is never rapid, and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither studied amplitude, nor affected brevity: his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison
I shall probably, in another work, maintain the merit of Addison's poetry, which has been very unjustly depreciated.
."
Though the Rambler was not concluded till the year 1752, I shall, under this year, say all that I have to observe upon it. Some of the translations of the mottos by himself, are admirably done. He acknowledges to have received
"elegant translations"
of many of them from Mr. James Elphinston▪ and some are very happily translated by a Mr.
F. Lewis,
of whom I never heard more, except that Johnson thus described him to Mr. Malone:
"Sir, he lived in London, and hung loose upon society."
The concluding paper of his Rambler is at once dignified and pathetick. I cannot, however, but wish, that he had not ended it with an unnecessary Greek verse, translated also into an English couplet. It is too much like the conceit of those dramatick poets, who used to conclude each act with a rhyme; and the expression in the first line of his couplet,
"Celestial powers,"
though proper in Pagan poetry, is ill suited to Christianity, with a conformity to which he consoles himself. How much better would it have been, to have ended with the prose sentence,
"I shall never envy the honours which wit and learning obtain in any other cause, if I can be numbered among the writers who have given ardour to virtue, and confidence to truth."
His friend Dr. Birch being now engaged in preparing an edition of Raleigh's smaller pieces, Dr. Johnson wrote the following letter to that gentleman:
To Dr.
BIRCH.
SIR,
Gough-square,
May 12, 1750.
KNOWING that you are now preparing to favour the public with a new edition of Raleigh's miscellaneous pieces, I have taken the liberty to send you a Manuscript, which fell by chance within my notice. I perceive no proofs of forgery in my examination of it; and the owner tells me, that, as
he
has heard, the hand-writing is Sir Walter's. If you should find reason to conclude it genuine, it will be a kindness to the owner, a blind person
Mrs. Williams is probably the person meant.
, to recommend it to the booksellers.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
His just abhorrence of Milton's political notions was ever strong. But this did not prevent his warm admiration of Milton's great poetical merit, to which he has done illustrious justice, beyond all who have written upon the subject. And this year he not only wrote a Prologue, which was spoken by Mr. Garrick before the acting of Comus at Drury-lane theatre, for the benefit of Milton's grand-daughter, but took a very zealous interest in the success of the charity. On the day preceding the performance, he published the following letter in the
"General Advertiser,"
addressed to the printer of that paper:
SIR,
THAT a certain degree of reputation is acquired merely by approving the works of genius, and testifying a regard to the memory of authours, is a truth too evident to be be denied; and therefore to ensure a participation of fame with a celebrated poet, many who would, perhaps, have contributed to starve him when alive, have heaped expensive pageants upon his grave.
It must, indeed, be confessed, that this method of becoming known to posterity with honour is peculiar to the great, or at least to the wealthy; but an opportunity now offers for almost every individual to secure the praise of paying a just regard to the illustrious dead, united with the pleasure of doing good to the living. To assist illustrious indigence, struggling with distress and debilitated by age, is a display of virtue, and an acquisition of happiness and honour.
Whoever, then, would be thought capable of pleasure in reading the works of our incomparable Milton, and not so destitute of gratitude as to refuse to lay out a trifle in rational and elegant entertainment for the benefit of his living remains, for the exercise of their own virtue, the increase of their reputation, and the pleasing consciousness of doing good, should appear at Drury-lane theatre to-morrow, April 5, when Comus will be performed for the benefit of Mrs. Elizabeth Foster, grand-daughter to the authour, and the only surviving branch of his family.
N. B. There will be a new prologue on the occasion, written by the authour of Irene, and spoken by Mr. Garrick; and, by particular desire, there will be added to the Masque a dramatick satire, called Lethe, in which Mr. Garrick will perform.
In 1751 we are to consider him as carrying on both his Dictionary and Rambler. But he also wrote
"The Life of Cheynel, *"
in the miscellany called
"The Student;"
and the Reverend Dr. Douglas having, with uncommon acuteness, clearly detected a gross forgery and imposition upon the publick by William Lauder, a Scotch schoolmaster, who had, with equal impudence and ingenuity, represented Milton as a plagiary from certain modern Latin poets, Johnson, who had been so far imposed upon as to furnish a Preface and Postscript to his work, now dictated a letter for Lauder, addressed to Dr. Douglas, acknowledging his fraud in terms of suitable contrition
Lest there should be any person, at any future period, absurd enough to suspect that Johnson was a partaker in Lauder's fraud, or had any knowledge of it, when he assisted him with his masterly pen, it is proper here to quote the words of Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Carlisle, at the time when he detected the imposition.
"It is to be hoped, nay it is
expected,
that the elegant and nervous writer, whose judicious sentiments and inimitable style point out the authour of Lauder's Preface and Postscript, will no longer allow one to
plume himself with his feathers,
who appeareth so little to deserve his assistance: an assistance which I am persuaded would never have been communicated, had there been the least suspicion of those facts which I have been the instrument of conveying to the world in these sheets."
Milton no Plagiary,
2d edit. p. 78. And his Lordship has been pleased now to authorise me to say, in the strongest manner, that there is no ground whatever for any unfavourable reflection against Dr. Johnson, who expressed the strongest indignation against Lauder.
.
This extraordinary attempt of Lauder was no sudden effort. He had brooded over it for many years; and to this hour it is uncertain what his principal motive was, unless it were a vain notion of his superiority, in being able, by whatever means, to deceive mankind. To effect this, he produced certain passages from Grotius, Masenius, and others, which had a faint resemblance to some parts of the
"Paradise Lost."
In these he interpolated some
fragments of Hog's Latin translation of that poem, alledging that the mass thus fabricated was the archetype from which Milton copied. These fabrications he published from time to time in the Gentleman's Magazine; and, exulting in his fancied success, he in 1750 ventured to collect them into a pamphlet, entitled
"An Essay on Milton's Use and Imitation of the Moderns in his Paradise Lost."
To this pamphlet Johnson wrote a Preface, in full persuasion of Lauder's honesty, and a Postscript recommending, in the most persuasive terms, a subscription for the relief of a grand-daughter of Milton, of whom he thus speaks:
"It is yet in the power of a great people to reward the poet whose name they boast, and from their alliance to whose genius, they claim some kind of superiority to every other nation of the earth; that poet, whose works may possibly be read when every other monument of British greatness shall be obliterated; to reward him, not with pictures or with medals, which, if he sees, he sees with contempt, but with tokens of gratitude, which he, perhaps, may even now consider as not unworthy the regard of an immortal spirit."
Surely this is inconsistent with
"enmity towards Milton,"
which Sir John Hawkins imputes to Johnson upon this occasion, adding,
"I could all along observe that Johnson seemed to approve not only of the design, but of the argument; and seemed to exult in a persuasion, that the reputation of Milton was likely to suffer by this discovery. That he was not privy to the imposture, I am well persuaded; but that he wished well to the argument, may be inferred from the Preface, which indubitably was written by Johnson."
Is it possible for any man of clear judgement to suppose that Johnson, who so nobly praised the poetical excellence of Milton in a Postscript to this very
"discovery,"
as he then supposed it, could, at the same time, exult in a persuasion that the great poet's reputation was likely to suffer by it? This is an inconsistency of which Johnson was incapable; nor can any thing more be fairly inferred from the Preface, than that Johnson, who was alike distinguished for ardent curiosity and love of truth, was pleased with an investigation by which both were gratified. That he was actuated by these motives, and certainly by no unworthy desire to depreciate our great epick poet, is evident from his own words; for, after mentioning the general zeal of men of genius and literature
"to advance the honour, and distinguish the beauties of Paradise Lost,"
he says,
"Among the inquiries to which this ardour of criticism has naturally given occasion, none is more obscure in itself, or more worthy of rational curiosity, than a retrospection of the progress of this mighty genius in the construction of his work; a view of the fabrick gradually rising, perhaps, from small beginnings, till its foundation rests in the centre, and its turrets sparkle in the skies; to trace back the structure through all its varieties, to the simplicity of its first plan; to find what was first projected, whence the scheme was taken, how it was improved, by what assistance it was executed, and from what stores the materials were collected; whether its founder dug them from the quarries of Nature, or demolished other buildings to embellish his own."
—Is this the language of one who wished to blast the laurels of Milton?
Though Johnson's circumstances were at this time far from being easy, his humane and charitable disposition was constantly exerting itself. Mrs. Anna Williams, daughter of a very ingenious Welsh physician, and a woman of more than ordinary talents and literature, having come to London in hopes of being cured of a cataract in both her eyes, which afterwards ended in total blindness, was kindly received as a constant visitor at his house while Mrs. Johnson lived; and after her death having come under his roof in order to have an operation upon her eyes performed with more comfort to her than in lodgings, she had an apartment from him during the rest of her life, at all times when he had a house.
In 1752 he was almost entirely occupied with his Dictionary. The last paper of his Rambler was published March 2, this year; after which, there was a cessation for some time of any exertion of his talents as an essayist. But, in the same year, Dr. Hawkesworth, who was his warm admirer, and a studious imitator of his style, and then lived in great intimacy with him, began a periodical paper, entitled
"THE ADVENTURER,"
in connection with other gentlemen, one of whom was Johnson's much-loved friend, Dr. Bathurst; and, without doubt, they received many valuable hints from his conversation, most of his friends having been so assisted in the course of their works.
That there should be a suspension of his literary labours during a part of the year 1752, will not seem strange, when it is considered that soon after closing his Rambler, he suffered a loss which, there there can be no doubt, affected him with the deepest distress. For on the 17th of March, O. S. his wife died. Why Sir John Hawkins should unwarrantably take upon him even to
suppose
that Johnson's fondness for her was
dissembled
[meaning simulated or assumed], and to assert, that if it was not the case,
"it was a lesson he had learned by rote,"
I cannot conceive; unless it proceeded from a want of similar feelings in his own breast. To argue from her being much older than Johnson, or any other circumstances, that he could not really love her, is absurd; for love is not a subject of reasoning, but of seeling, and therefore there are no common principles upon which one can persuade another concerning
it. Every man feels for himself, and knows how he is affected by particular qualities in the person he admires, the impressions of which are too minute and delicate to be substantiated in language.
That his love for her was of the most ardent kind, and, during the long period of fifty years, was unimpaired by the lapse of time, is evident from various passages in the series of his Prayers and Meditations, published by the Reverend Mr. Strahan, as well as from other memorials, one of which I select, as strongly marking the tenderness and sensibility of his mind.
April 23, 1753. I know not whether I do not too much indulge the vain longings of affection; but I hope they intenerate my heart, and that when I die like my Tetty, this affection will be acknowledged in a happy interview, and that in the mean time I am incited by it to piety. I will, however, not deviate too much from common and received methods of devotion.
Her wedding-ring, when she became his wife, was, after her death, preserved by him as long as he lived with an affectionate care, in a little round wooden box, in the inside of which he pasted a slip of paper, thus inscribed by him in fair characters, as follows:
Eheu! Eliz. Johnson, Nupta
Jul.
9o 1736,
Mortua, eheu!
Mart. 17o 1752.
After his death, Mr. Francis Barber, his faithful servant and residuary legatee, offered this memorial of tenderness to Mrs. Lucy Porter, Mrs. Johnson's daughter; but she having declined to accept of it, he had it enamelled as a mourning-ring for his old master, and presented it to his wife, Mrs. Barber, who now has it.
The state of mind in which a man must be upon the death of a woman whom he sincerely loves, had been in his contemplation many years before. In his IRENE, we find the following fervent and tender speech of Demetrius, addressed to his Aspasia:
"From those bright regions of eternal day,
"Where now thou shin'st amongst thy fellow saints,
"Array'd in purer light, look down on me!
"In pleasing visions and assuasive dreams,
"O! sooth my soul, and teach me how to lose thee."
I have, indeed, been told by Mrs. Desmoulins, who, before her marriage, lived for some time with Mrs. Johnson at Hampstead, that she indulged herself in country air and nice living, at an unsuitable expence, while her husband was drudging in the smoke of London, and that she by no means treated him with that complacency which is the most engaging quality in a wife. But all this is perfectly compatible with his fondness for her, especially when it is remembered that he had a high opinion of her understanding, and that the impression which her beauty, real or imaginary, had originally made upon his fancy, being continued by habit, had not been effaced, though she herself was doubtless much altered for the worse. The dreadful shock of separation took place in the night; and he immediately dispatched a letter to his friend, the Reverend Dr. Taylor, which, as Taylor told me, expressed grief in the strongest manner he had ever read; so that it is much to be regretted it has not been preserved. The letter was brought to Dr. Taylor, at his house in the Cloysters, Westminster, about three in the morning; and as it signified an earnest desire to see him, he got up, and went to Johnson as soon as he was dressed, and found him in tears and in extreme agitation. After being a little while together, Johnson requested him to join with him in prayer. He then prayed extempore, as did Dr. Taylor; and thus, by means of that piety which was ever his primary object, his troubled mind was, in some degree, soothed and composed.
The next day he wrote as follows:
To the Reverend Dr.
TAYLOR.
DEAR SIR,
LET me have your company and instruction. Do not live away from me. My distress is great.
Pray desire Mrs. Taylor to inform me what mourning I should buy for my mother and Miss Porter, and bring a note in writing with you.
Remember me in your prayers, for vain is the help of man.
I am, dear Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
March 18, 1752.
That his sufferings upon the death of his wife were severe, beyond what are commonly endured, I have no doubt, srom the information of many who were then about him, to none of whom I give more credit than to Mr. Francis Barber, his faithful negro servant
Francis Barber was born in Jamaica, and was brought to England in 1750 by Colonel Bathurst, father of Johnson's very intimate friend, Dr. Bathurst. He was sent, for some time, to the Reverend Mr. Jackson's school, at Barton in Yorkshire. The Colonel by his will left him his freedom, and Dr. Bathurst was willing that he should enter into Johnson's service, in which he continued from 1752 till Johnson's death, with the exception of two intervals; in one of which, upon some difference with his master, he went and served an apothecary in Cheapside, but still visited Dr. Johnson occasionally; in another, when he took a fancy to go to sea. Part of the time, indeed, he was, by the kindness of his master, at a school in Northamptonshire, that he might have the advantage of some learning. So early and so lasting a connection was there between Dr. Johnson and this humble friend.
, who came into his family about a fortnight after the dismal event. These sufferings were aggravated by the melancholy inherent in his constitution; and although he probably was not oftener in the wrong than she was, in the little disagreements which sometimes troubled his married state, during which, he owned to me, that the gloomy irritability of his existence was more painful to him than ever, he might very naturally, after her death, be tenderly disposed to charge himself with slight omissions and offences, the sense of which would give him much uneasiness. Accordingly we find, about a year after her decease, that he thus addressed the Supreme Being:
"O LORD, who givest the grace of repentance, and hearest the prayers of the penitent, grant that by true contrition I may obtain forgiveness of all the sins committed, and of all duties neglected in my union with the wife whom thou hast taken from me; for the neglect of joint devotion, patient exhortation, and mild instruction
Prayers and Meditations, p. 19.
."
The kindness of his heart, notwithstanding the impetuosity of his temper, is well known to his friends; and I cannot trace the smallest foundation for the following dark and uncharitable assertion by Sir John Hawkins:
"The apparition of his departed wife was altogether of the terrifick kind, and hardly afforded him a hope that she was in a state of happiness
Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 316.
."
That he, in conformity with the opinion of many of the most able, learned, and pious Christians in all ages, supposed that there was a middle state after death, previous to the time at which departed souls are finally received to eternal felicity, appears, I think, unquestionably from his devotions:
"And, O LORD, so far as it may be lawful in me, I commend to thy fatherly goodness
the soul of my departed wife;
beseeching thee to
grant
her whatever is best in her
present state,
and
finally to receive her to eternal happiness
Prayers and Meditations, p. 20.
."
But this state has not been looked upon with horrour, but only as less gracious.
He deposited the remains of Mrs. Johnson in the church of Bromley in Kent, to which he was probably led by the residence of his friend Hawkesworth at that place. The funeral sermon which he composed for her, which was never preached, but having been given to Dr. Taylor, has been published since his death, is a performance of uncommon excellence, and full of rational and pious comfort to such as are depressed by that severe affliction which Johnson felt when he wrote it. When it is considered that it was written in such an agitation of mind, and in the short interval between her death and burial, it cannot be read without wonder.
From Mr. Francis Barber I have had the following authentick and artless account of the situation in which he found him recently after his wife's death:
He was in great affliction. Mrs. Williams was then living in his house, which was in Gough-square. He was busy with the Dictionary. Mr. Shiels, and some others of the gentlemen who had formerly written for him, used to come about him. He had then little for himself, but frequently sent money to Mr. Shiels when in distress. The friends who visited him at that time, were chiefly Dr. Bathurst, and Mr. Diamond, an apothecary in Cork-street, Burlington-gardens, with whom he and Mrs. Williams generally dined every Sunday. There was a talk of his going to Iceland with him, which would probably have happened had he lived. There were also Mr. Cave, Dr. Hawkesworth, Mr. Ryland, merchant on Tower-hill, Mrs. Masters the poetess, who lived with Mr. Cave, Mrs. Carter, and sometimes Mrs. Macaulay; also, Mrs. Gardiner, wife of a tallow-chandler on Snow-hill, not in the learned way, but a worthy good woman; Mr. (now Sir Joshua) Reynolds; Mr. Millar, Mr. Dodsley, Mr. Bouquet, Mr. Payne of Paternoster-row, booksellers; Mr. Strahan the printer, the Earl of Orrery, Lord Southwell, Mr. Garrick.
Many are, no doubt, omitted in this catalogue of his friends, and, in particular, his humble friend Mr. Robert Levet, an obscure practiser in physick amongst the lower people, his fees being sometimes very small sums, sometimes whatever provisions his patients could afford him, but of such extensive practice in that way, that Mrs. Williams has told me, his walk was from Houndsditch to Marybone. It appears from Johnson's diary, that their acquaintance commenced about the year 1746; and such was Johnson's predilection for him, and fanciful estimation of his moderate abilities, that I have heard him say he should not be satisfied, though attended by all the College of Physicians, unless he had Mr. Levet with him. Ever since I was acquainted with Dr. Johnson, and many years before, as I have been assured by those who knew him earlier, Mr. Levet had an apartment in his house, or his chambers, and waited upon him every morning, through the whole course of his late and tedious breakfast. He was of a strange grotesque appearance, stiff and formal in his manner, and seldom said a word while any company was present.
The circle of his friends, indeed, at this time was extensive and various, far beyond what has been generally imagined. To trace his acquaintance with each particular person, if it could be done, would be a task, of which the labour would not be repaid by the advantage. But exceptions are to be made; one of which must be a friend so eminent as Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was truly his
dulce decus,
and with whom he maintained an uninterrupted intimacy to the last hour of his life. When Johnson lived in Castle-street, Cavendish-square, he used frequently to visit two ladies, who lived opposite to him, Miss Cotterells, daughters of Admiral Cotterell. Reynolds used also to visit there, and thus they met. Mr. Reynolds, as I have observed above, had, from the first reading of his Life of Savage, conceived a very high admiration of Johnson's powers of writing. His conversation no less delighted him; and he cultivated his acquaintance with the laudable zeal of one who was ambitious of general improvement. Sir Joshua, indeed, was lucky enough at their very first meeting to make a remark, which was so much above the common-place style of conversation, that Johnson at once perceived that Reynolds had the habit of thinking for himself. The ladies were regretting the death of a friend, to whom they owed great obligations; upon which Reynolds observed,
"You have, however, the comfort of being relieved from a burthen of gratitude."
They were shocked a little at this alleviating suggestion, as too selfish; but Johnson defended it in his clear and forcible manner, and was much pleased with the
mind,
the fair view of human nature, which it exhibited, like some of the reflections of Rochefaucault. The consequence was, that he went home with Reynolds, and supped with him.
Sir Joshua has told me a pleasant characteristical anecdote of Johnson about the time of their first acquaintance. When they were one evening together at the Miss Cotterells, the then Duchess of Argyle and another lady of high rank came in. Johnson thinking that the Miss Cotterells were too much engrossed by them, and that he and his friend were neglected, as low company of whom they were somewhat ashamed, grew angry; and resolving to shock their supposed pride, by making their great visiters imagine that his friend and he were low indeed, he addressed himself in a loud tone to Mr. Reynolds, saying,
"How much do you think you and I could get in a week, if we were to
work as hard
as we could?"
as if they had been common mechanicks.
His acquaintance with Bennet Langton, Esq. of Langton, in Lincolnshire, another much valued friend, commenced soon after the conclusion of his Rambler, which that gentleman, then a youth, had read with so much admiration, that he came to London chiefly with the view of endeavouring to be introduced to its authour. By a fortunate chance he happened to take lodgings in a house where Mr. Levet frequently visited; and having mentioned his wish to his landlady, she introduced him to Mr. Levet, who readily obtained Johnson's permission to bring Mr. Langton to him; as, indeed, Johnson, during the whole course of his life, had no shyness, real or affected, but was easy of access to all who were properly recommended, and even wished to see numbers at his
levee,
as his morning circle of company might, with strict propriety, be called. Mr. Langton was exceedingly surprized when the sage first appeared. He had not received the smallest intimation of his figure, dress, or manner. From perusing his writings, he fancied he should see a decent, well-drest, in short, a remarkably decorous philosopher. Instead of which, down from his bed-chamber, about noon, came, as newly risen, a huge uncouth figure, with a little dark wig which scarcely covered his head, and his clothes hanging loose about him. But his conversation was so rich, so animated, and so forcible, and his religious and political notions so congenial with those in which Mr. Langton had been educated, that he conceived for him that veneration and attachment which he ever preserved. Johnson was not the less ready to love Mr. Langton, for his being of a very ancient family; for I have heard him say, with pleasure,
"Langton, Sir, has a grant of a warren from Henry the Second; and Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's reign, was of this family."
Mr. Langton afterwards went to pursue his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, where he formed an acquaintance with his fellow-student, Mr. Topham Beauclerk, who, though their opinions and modes of life were so different, that it seemed utterly improbable that they should at all agree, had so ardent a love of literature, so acute an understanding, such elegance of manners, and so well discerned the excellent qualities of Mr. Langton, that they became intimate friends.
Johnson, soon after this acquaintance began, passed a considerable time at Oxford. He at first thought it strange that Langton should associate so much with one who had the character of being loose, both in his principles and practice; but, by degrees, he himself was fascinated. Mr. Beauclerk's being of the St. Albans' family, and having, in some particulars, a resemblance to Charles the Second, contributed, in Johnson's imagination, to throw a lustre upon his other qualities; and, in a short time, the moral, pious Johnson, and the gay, dissipated Beauclerk, were companions.
"What a coalition! (said Garrick, when he heard of this;) I shall have my old friend to bail out of the Round-house."
But I can bear testimony that it was a very agreeable association. Beauclerk was too polite, and valued learning and wit too much, to offend Johnson by sallies of infidelity or licentiousness; and Johnson delighted in the good qualities of Beauclerk, and hoped to correct the evil. Innumerable were the scenes in which Johnson was amused by these young men. Beauclerk could take more liberty with him, than any body with whom I ever saw him; but, on the other hand, Beauclerk was not spared by his respectable companion, when reproof was proper. Beauclerk had such a propensity to satire, that at one time Johnson said to him,
"You never open your mouth but with intention to give pain; and you have often given me pain, not from the power of what you said, but from seeing your intention."
At another time applying to him, with a slight alteration, a line of Pope, he said,
"Thy love of folly, and thy scorn of fools—Every thing thou dost shews the one, and every thing thou say'st the other."
At another time he said to him,
"Thy body is all vice, and thy mind all virtue."
Beauclerk not seeming to relish the compliment, Johnson said,
"Nay, Sir, Alexander the Great, marching in triumph into Babylon, could not have desired to have had more said to him."
Johnson was some time with Beauclerk at his house at Windsor, where he was entertained with experiments in natural philosophy. One Sunday, when the weather was very fine, Beauclerk enticed him, insensibly, to saunter about all the morning. They went into a church-yard, in the time of divine service, and Johnson laid himself down at his ease upon one of the tomb-stones.
"Now, Sir, (said Beauclerk) you are like Hogarth's Idle Apprentice."
When Johnson got his pension, Beauclerk said to him, in the humorous phrase of Falstaff,
"I hope you'll now purge, and live cleanly like a gentleman."
One night when Beauclerk and Langton had supped at a tavern in London, and sat till about three in the morning, it came into their heads to go and knock up Johnson, and see if they could prevail on him to join them in a ramble. They rapped violently at the door of his chambers in the Temple, till at last he appeared in his shirt, with his little black wig on the top of his head, instead of a nightcap, and a poker in his hand, imagining, probably, that some ruffians were coming to attack him. When he discovered who they were, and was told their errand, he smiled, and with great good humour agreed to their proposal:
"What, is it you, you dogs! I'll have a frisk with you."
He was soon drest, and they sallied forth together into Covent-Garden, where the green-grocers and fruiterers were beginning to arrange their hampers, just come in from the country. Johnson made some attempts to help them; but the honest gardeners stared so at his figure and manner, and odd interference, that he soon saw his services were not relished. They then repaired to one of the neighbouring taverns, and made a bowl of that liquor called
Bishop,
which Johnson had always liked; while in joyous contempt of sleep, from which he had been roused, he repeated the festive lines,
"Short, O short then be thy reign,
"And gve us to the world again!"
They did not stay long, but walked down to the Thames, took a boat, and rowed to Billingsgate. Beauclerk and Johnson were so well pleased with their amusement, that they resolved to persevere in dissipation for the rest of the day: but Langton deserted them, being engaged to breakfast with some young ladies. Johnson scolded him for
"leaving his social friends, to go and sit with a set of wretched
un-idea'd
girls."
Garrick being told of this ramble, said to him smartly,
"I heard of your frolick t'other night. You'll be in the Chronicle."
Upon which Johnson afterwards observed,
"He
durst not do such a thing. His
wife
would not
let
him!"
He entered upon the year 1753 with his usual piety, as appears from the following prayer transcribed from that part of his diary which he burnt a few days before his death:
Jan. 1, 1753, N. S.
which I shall use for the future.
Almighty GOD, who hast continued my life to this day, grant that, by the assistance of thy Holy Spirit, I may improve the time which thou shalt grant me, to my eternal salvation. Make me to remember, to thy glory, thy judgements and thy mercies. Make me so to consider the loss of my wife, whom thou hast taken from me, that it may dispose me, by thy grace, to lead the residue of my life in thy fear. Grant this, O LORD, for JESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen.
He now relieved the drudgery of his Dictionary, and the melancholy of his grief, by taking an active part in the composition of
"The Adventurer,"
in which he began to write April 10, marking his essays with the signature T, by which most of his papers in that collection are distinguished: those, however, which have that signature and also that of
Mysargyrus,
were not written by him, but, as I suppose, by Dr. Bathurst. Indeed Johnson's energy of
thought and richness of language, are still more decisive marks than any signature. As a proof of this, my readers, I imagine, will not doubt that No. 39, on sleep, is his; for it not only has the general texture and colour of his style, but the authours with whom he was peculiarly conversant are readily introduced in it in cursory allusion. The translation of a passage in Statius quoted in that paper, and marked C. B. is certainly the performance of Dr. Charles Bathurst▪ How much this amiable man actually contributed to
"The Adventurer,"
cannot be known. Let me add, that Hawkesworth's imitations of Johnson are sometimes so happy, that it is extremely difficult to distinguish them, with certainty, from the compositions of his great archetype. Hawkesworth was his closest imitator, a circumstance of which that writer would once have been proud to be told; though, when he had become elated by having risen into some degree of consequence, he, in a conversation with me, had the provoking effrontery to say he was not sensible of it.
Johnson was truly zealous for the success of
"The Adventurer;"
and very soon after his engaging in it, he wrote the following letter
To the Reverend Dr.
JOSEPH WARTON.
DEAR SIR,
I OUGHT to have written to you before now, but I ought to do many things which I do not; nor can I, indeed, claim any merit from this letter; for being desired by the authours and proprietor of the Adventurer to look out for another hand, my thoughts necessarily fix'd upon you, whose fund of literature will enable you to assist them, with very little interruption of your studies.
They desire you to engage to furnish one paper a month, at two guineas a paper, which you may very readily perform. We have considered that a paper should consist of pieces of imagination, pictures of life, and disquisitions of literature. The part which depends on the imagination is very well supplied, as you will find when you read the paper; for descriptions of life, there is now a treaty almost made with an authour and an authoress; and the province of criticism and literature they are very desirous to assign to the commentator on Virgil.
I hope this proposal will not be rejected, and that the next post will bring us your compliance. I speak as one of the fraternity, though I have no part in the paper, beyond now and then a motto; but two of the writers are my particular friends, and I hope the pleasure of seeing a third united to them, will not be denied to, dear Sir,
Your most obedient And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
March 8, 1753.
The consequence of this letter was, Dr. Warton's enriching the collection with several admirable essays.
Johnson's saying
"I have no part in the paper beyond now and then a motto,"
may seem inconsistent with his being the authour of the papers marked T. But he had, at this time, written only one number; and besides, even at any after period, he might have used the same expression, considering it as a point of honour not to own them; for Mrs. Williams told me, that
"as he had
given
those essays to Dr. Bathurst, who sold them at two guineas each, he never would own them; nay, he used to say he did not
write
them: but the fact was, that he
dictated
them, while Bathurst wrote."
I read to him Mrs. Williams's account; he smiled, and said nothing.
I am not quite satisfied with the casuistry by which the productions of one person are thus passed upon the world for the productions of another. I allow that not only knowledge, but powers and qualities of mind may be communicated; but the actual effect of individual exertion never can be transferred, with truth, to any other than its own original cause. One person's child may be made the child of another person by adoption, as among the Romans, or by the ancient Jewish mode of a wife having children borne to her upon her knees, by her handmaid. But these were children in a different sense from that of nature. It was clearly understood that they were not of the blood of their nominal parents. So in literary children, an authour may give the profits and fame of his composition to another man, but cannot make that other the real authour. A Highland gentleman, a younger branch of a family, once consulted me if he could not validly purchase the Chieftainship of his family, from the Chief who was willing to sell it. I told him it was impossible for him to acquire, by purchase, a right to be a different person from what he really was; for that the right of Chieftainship attached to the blood of primo-geniture, and, therefore, was incapable of being transferred. I added, that though Esau sold his birth-right, or the advantages belonging to it, he still remained the first-born of his parents; and that whatever agreement a Chief might make with any of the clan, the Herald's Office could not admit of the metamorphosis, or with any decency attest that the younger was the elder; but I did not convince the worthy gentleman.
Johnson's papers in the Adventurer are very fimilar to those of the Rambler; but being rather more varied in their subjects, and being mixed with essays by other writers, upon topicks more generally attractive than even the most elegant ethical discourses, the sale of the work, at first, was more extensive. Without meaning, however, to depreciate the Adventurer, I must observe, that as the value of the Rambler came, in the progress of time, to be better known, it grew upon the publick estimation, and that its sale has far exceeded that of any other periodical papers since the reign of Queen Anne.
In one of the books of his diary I find the following entry:
Apr. 3, 1753.
I began the second vol. of my Dictionary, room being left in the first for Preface, Grammar, and History, none of them yet begun.
O GOD, who hast hitherto supported me, enable me to proceed in this labour, and in the whole task of my present state; that when I shall render up, at the last day, an account of the talent committed to me, I may receive pardon, for the sake of JESUS CHRIST. Amen.
He this year favoured Mrs. Lennox with a Dedication to the Earl of Orrery, of her
"Shakspeare Illustrated."
In 1754 I can trace nothing published by him, except his numbers of the Adventurer, and
"The Life of Edward Cave,"
in the Gentleman's Magazine for February. In biography there can be no question that he excelled, beyond all who have attempted that species of composition; upon which, indeed, he set the highest value. To the minute selection of characteristical circumstances, for which the ancients were remarkable, he added a philosophical research, and the most perspicuous and energetick language. Cave was certainly a man of estimable qualities, and was eminently diligent and successful in his own business, which, doubtless, entitled him to respect. But he was peculiarly fortunate in being recorded by Johnson, who, of the narrow life of a printer and publisher, without any digressions or adventitious circumstances, has made an interesting and agreeable narrative.
The Dictionary, we may believe, afforded Johnson full occupation this year. As it approached to its conclusion, he probably worked with redoubled vigour, as seamen increase their exertion and alacrity when they have a near prospect of their haven.
Lord Chesterfield, to whom Johnson had paid the high compliment of addressing to his Lordship the Plan of his Dictionary, had behaved to him in such a manner as to excite his contempt and indignation. The world has been for many years amused with a story confidently told, and as confidently repeated with additional circumstances, that a sudden disgust was taken by Johnson upon occasion of his having been one day kept long in waiting in his Lordship's antechamber, for which the reason assigned was, that he had company
with him; and that at last, when the door opened, out walked Colley Cibber; and that Johnson was so violently provoked when he found for whom he had been so long excluded, that he went away in a passion, and never would return. I remember having mentioned this story to George Lord Lyttelton, who told me, he was very intimate with Lord Chesterfield; and holding it as a wellknown truth, defended Lord Chesterfield, by saying, that
"Cibber, who had been introduced familiarly by the back-stairs, had probably not been there above ten minutes."
It may seem strange even to entertain a doubt concerning a story so long and so widely current, and thus implicitly adopted, if not sanctified, by the authority which I have mentioned; but Johnson himself assured me, that there was not the least foundation for it. He told me, that there never was any particular incident which produced a quarrel between Lord Chesterfield and him; but that his Lordship's continued neglect was the reason why he resolved to have no connection with him. When the Dictionary was upon the eve of publication, Lord Chesterfield, who, it is said, had flattered himself with expectations that Johnson would dedicate the work to him, attempted, in a courtly manner, to sooth, and insinuate himself with the sage, conscious, as it should seem, of the cold indifference with which he had treated its learned authour; and further attempted to conciliate him, by writing two papers in
"The World,"
in recommendation of the work; and it must be confessed, that they contain some studied compliments, so finely turned, that if there had been no previous offence, it is probable that Johnson would have been highly delighted. Praise, in general, was pleasing to him; but by praise from a man of rank and elegant accomplishments, he was peculiarly gratified.
His Lordship says,
"I think the publick in general, and the republick of letters in particular, are greatly obliged to Mr. Johnson, for having undertaken, and executed, so great and desirable a work. Perfection is not to be expected from man: but if we are to judge by the various works of Johnson already published, we have good reason to believe, that he will bring this as near to perfection as any one man could do. The Plan of it, which he published some years ago, seems to me to be a proof of it. Nothing can be more rationally imagined, or more accurately and elegantly expressed. I therefore recommend the previous perusal of it to all those who intend to buy the Dictionary, and who, I suppose, are all those who can afford it.
* * * * * * * *
It must be owned, that our language is, at present, in a state of anarchy, and hitherto, perhaps, it may not have been the worse for it. During our free and open trade, many words and expressions have been imported, adopted and naturalized from other languages, which have greatly enriched our own. Let it still preserve what real strength and beauty it may have borrowed from others; but let it not, like the Tarpeian maid, be overwhelmed and crushed by unnecessary ornaments. The time for difcrimination seems to be now come. Toleration, adoption, and naturalization have run their lengths. Good order and authority are now necessary. But where shall we find them, and, at the same time, the obedience due to them? We must have recourse to the old Roman expedient in times of confusion, and chuse a dictator. Upon this principle, I give my vote for Mr. Johnson to fill that great and arduous post. And I hereby declare, that I make a total surrender of all my rights and privileges in the English language, as a free-born British subject, to the said Mr. Johnson, during the term of his dictatorship. Nay more, I will not only obey him, like an old Roman, as my dictator, but, like a modern Roman, I will implicitly believe in him as my Pope, and hold him to be infallible while in the chair, but no longer. More than this he cannot well require; for, I presume, that obedience can never be expected, when there is neither terrour to enforce, nor interest to invite it.
* * * * * * * *
But a Grammar, a Dictionary, and a History of our Language through its several stages, were still wanting at home, and importunately called for from abroad. Mr. Johnson's labours will now, I dare say, very fully supply that want, and greatly contribute to the farther spreading of our language in other countries. Learners were discouraged, by finding no standard to resort to; and, consequently, thought it incapable of any. They will now be undeceived and encouraged.
This courtly device failed of its effect. Johnson, who thought that
"all was false and hollow,"
despised the honeyed words, and was even indignant that Lord Chesterfield should, for a moment, imagine, that he could be the dupe of such an artifice. His expression to me concerning Lord Chesterfield, upon this occasion, was,
"Sir, after making great professions, he had, for many years, taken no notice of me; but when my Dictionary was coming out, he fell a scribbling in the World about it. Upon which, I wrote him a letter, expressed in civil terms, but such as might shew him that I did not mind what he said or wrote, and that I had done with him."
This is that celebrated letter, of which so much has been said, and about which curiosity has been so long excited, without being gratified. I for many years solicited Johnson to favour me with a copy of it, that so excellent a composition might not be lost to posterity. He delayed from time to time to give it me; till at last in 1781, when we were on a visit at Mr. Dilly's, at Southill in Bedfordshire, he was pleased to dictate it to me from memory. He afterwards found among his papers a copy of it, with its title and corrections, in his own hand-writing. This he gave to Mr. Langton; adding, that if it were to come into print, he wished it to be from that copy. By Mr. Langton's kindness, I am enabled to enrich my work with a perfect transcript of what the world has so eagerly desired to see.
To the Right Honourable the Earl of
CHESTERFIELD.
MY LORD,
February, 1755.
I HAVE been lately informed, by the proprietor of the World, that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the publick, were written by your Lordship. To be so distinguished, is an honour, which, being very little accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge.
When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your Lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address; and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself
Le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre;
—that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so little encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it. When I had once addressed your Lordship in publick, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little.
Seven years, my Lord, have now past, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance
The following note is subjoined by Mr. Langton.
"Dr. Johnson, when he gave me this copy of his letter, desired that I would annex to it his information to me, that whereas it is said in the ltter that 'no assistance has been received,' he did once receive from Lord Chesterfield the sum of ten pounds; but as that was so inconsiderable a sum, he thought the mention of it could not properly find place in a letter of the kind that this was."
, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a Patron before.
The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks.
Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it
In this passage Dr. Johnson evidently alludes to the loss of his wife. We find the same tender recollection recurring to his mind upon innumerable occasions; and, perhaps, no man ever more forcibly felt the truth of the sentiment so elegantly expressed by my friend Mr. Malone, in his Prologue to Mr. Jephson's tragedy of
"JULIA:"
"Vain—wealth, and fame, and fortune's fostering care,
"If no fond breast the splendid blessings share;
"And, each day's bustling pageantry once past,
"There, only there, our bliss is found at last."
; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the publick should consider me as owing that to a Patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for myself.
Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most humble Most obedient servant, SAM. JOHNSON
Upon comparing this copy with that which Dr. Johnson dictated to me from recollection, the variations are found to be so slight, that this must be added to the many other proofs which he gave of the wonderful extent and accuracy of his memory.
.
"While this was the talk of the town, (says Dr. Adams, in a letter to me) I happened to visit Dr. Warburton, who finding that I was acquainted with Johnson, desired me earnestly to carry his compliments to him, and to tell him, that he honoured him for his manly behaviour in rejecting these condescensions of Lord Chesterfield, and for resenting the treatment he had received from him, with a proper spirit. Johnson was visibly pleased with this compliment, for he had always a high opinion of Warburton."
—Indeed, the force of mind which appeared in this letter, was congenial with that which Warburton himself amply possessed.
There is a curious minute circumstance which struck me, in comparing the various editions of Johnson's imitations of Juvenal. In the tenth Satire, one of the couplets upon the vanity of wishes even for literary distinction stood thus:
"Yet think what ills the scholar's life assail,
"Pride, envy, want, the
garret,
and the jail."
But after experiencing the uneasiness which Lord Chesterfield's fallacious patronage made him feel, he dismissed the word
garret
from the sad group, and in all the subsequent editions the line stands
"Pride, envy, want, the
Patron,
and the jail."
That Lord Chesterfield must have been mortified by the lofty contempt, and polite, yet keen satire with which Johnson exhibited him to himself in this letter, it is impossible to doubt. He, however, with that glossy duplicity which was his constant study, affected to be quite unconcerned. Dr. Adams mentioned to Mr. Robert Dodsley that he was sorry Johnson had written his letter to Lord Chesterfield. Dodsley, with the true feelings of trade, said
"he was very sorry too; for that he had a property in the Dictionary, to which his Lordship's patronage might have been of consequence."
He then told Dr. Adams, that Lord Chesterfield had shewn him the letter.
"I should have imagined (replied Dr. Adams) that Lord Chesterfield would have concealed it."
"Poh! (said Dodsley) do you think a letter from Johnson could hurt Lord Chesterfield? Not at all, Sir. It lay upon his table, where any body might see it. He read it to me; said, 'this man has great powers,' pointed out the severest passages, and observed how well they were expressed."
This air of indifference, which imposed upon the worthy Dodsley, was certainly nothing but a specimen of that dissimulation which Lord Chesterfield inculcated as one of the most essential lessons for the conduct of life. His Lordship endeavoured to justify himself to Dodsley from the charges brought against him by Johnson; but we may judge of the flimsiness of his defence, from his having excused his neglect of Johnson, by saying that
"he had heard he had changed his lodgings, and did not know where he lived;"
as if there could have been the smallest difficulty to inform himself of that circumstance, by inquiring in the literary circle with which his Lordship was well acquainted, and was, indeed, himself one of its ornaments.
Dr. Adams expostulated with Johnson, and suggested, that his not being admitted when he called on him, was, probably, not to be imputed to Lord Chesterfield; for his Lordship had declared to Dodsley, that
"he would have turned off the best servant he ever had, if he had known that he denied him to a man who would have been always more than welcome;"
and, in confirmation of this, he insisted on Lord Chesterfield's general affability and easiness of access, especially to literary men.
"Sir, (said Johnson) that is not Lord Chesterfield; he is the proudest man this day existing."
"No, (said Dr. Adams) there is one person, at least, as proud; I think, by your own account, you are the prouder man of the two."
"But mine (replied Johnson, instantly) was
defensive
pride."
This, as Dr. Adams well observed, was one of those happy turns for which he was so remarkably ready.
Johnson having now explicitly avowed his opinion of Lord Chesterfield, did not refrain from expressing himself concerning that nobleman with pointed freedom:
"This man (said he) I thought had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords!"
And when his Letters to his natural son were published, he observed, that
"they teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing-master
That collection of letters cannot be vindicated from the serious charge of encouraging, in some passages, one of the vices most destructive to the good order and comfort of society, which his Lordship represents as mere fashionable gallantry; and, in others, of inculcating the base practice of dissimulation, and recommending, with disproportionate anxiety, a perpetual attention to external elegance of manner. But it must, at the same time be allowed, that they contain many good precepts of conduct, and much genuine information upon life and manners, very happily expressed; and that there was considerable merit in paying so much attention to the improvement of one who was dependent upon his Lordship's protection; it has, probably, been exceeded in no instance by the most exemplary parent; and though I can by no means approve of confounding the distinction between lawful and illicit offspring, which is, in effect, insulting the civil establishment of our country, to look no higher; I cannot help thinking it laudable to be kindly attentive to those, of whose existence we have, in any way, been the cause. Mr. Stanhope's character has been unjustly represented as diametrically opposite to what Lord Chesterfield wished him to be. He has been called dull, gross, and aukward: but I knew him at Dresden, when he was Envoy to that court; and though he could not boast of the
graces,
he was, in truth, a sensible, civil, well-behaved man.
."
The character of a
"respectable Hottentot,"
in Lord Chesterfield's letters, has been generally understood to be meant for Johnson, and I have no doubt that it was. But I remember when the
Literary Property
of those letters was contested in the Court of Session in Scotland, and Mr. Henry Dundas, one of the Counsel for the proprietors, read this character as an exhibition of Johnson, Sir David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes, one of the Judges, maintained, with some warmth, that it was not intended as a portrait of Johnson, but of a late noble Lord, distinguished for abstruse science. I have heard Johnson himself talk of the character, and say that it was meant for George Lord Lyttelton, in which I could by no means agree; for his Lordship had nothing of that violence which is a conspicuous feature in the composition. Finding that my illustrious friend could bear to have it supposed that it might be meant for him, I said, laughingly, that there was one trait which unquestionably did not belong to him;
"he throws his meat any where but down his throat."
"Sir, (said he) Lord Chesterfield never saw me eat in his life."
On the 6th of March came out Lord Bolingbroke's works, published by Mr. David Mallet. The wild and pernicious ravings, under the name of
"Philosophy,"
which were thus ushered into the world, gave great offence to all well-principled men. Johnson, hearing of their tendency, which nobody disputed, was roused with a just indignation, and pronounced this memorable sentence upon the noble authour and his editor.
"Sir, he was a scoundrel, and a coward: a scoundrel, for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half a crown to a beggarly Scotchman, to draw the trigger after his death!"
Garrick, who I can attest from my own knowledge, had his mind seasoned with pious reverence, and sincerely disapproved of the infidel writings of several, whom, in the course of his almost universal gay intercourse with men of eminence, he treated with external civility, distinguished himself upon this occasion. Mr. Pelham having died on the very day on which Lord Bolingbroke's works came out, he wrote an elegant Ode on his death, beginning
"Let others hail the rising sun,
"I bow to that whose course is run."
in which is the following stanza:
"The same sad morn to church and state
"(So for our sins 'twas fix'd by fate,)
"A double stroke was given;
"Black as the whirlwinds of the North,
"St. John's fell genius issued forth,
"And Pelham fled to heaven."
Johnson this year found an interval of leisure to make an excursion to Oxford, for the purpose of consulting the libraries there. Of this, and of many interesting circumstances concerning him, during a part of his life when he conversed but little with the world, I am enabled to give a particular account, by the liberal communications of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Warton, who has obligingly furnished me with several of our common friend's letters, which he has illustrated with notes. These I shall insert in their proper places.
To the Reverend Mr.
THOMAS WARTON.
SIR,
IT is but an ill return for the book with which you were pleased to favour me
"Observations on Spenser's Fairy Queen, the first edition of which was now just published."
, to have delayed my thanks for it till now. I am too apt to be negligent; but I can never deliberately shew my difrepect to a man of your character: and I now pay you a very honest acknowledgement, for the advancement of the literature of our native country. You have shewn to all, who shall hereafter attempt the study of our ancient authours, the way to success; by directing them to the perusal of the books which those authours had read. Of this method, Hughes
"Hughes published an edition of Spenser."
, and men much greater than Hughes, seem never to have thought. The reason why the authours, which are yet read, of the sixteenth century, are so little understood, is, that they are read alone; and no help is borrowed from those who lived with them, or before them. Some part of this ignorance I hope to remove by my book
"His Dictionary."
, which now draws towards its end; but which I cannot finish to my mind, without visiting the libraries of Oxford, which I, therefore, hope to see in a fortnight
"He came to Oxford within a fortnight, and stayed about five weeks. He lodged at a house called Kettel-hall, near Trinity College. But during this visit at Oxford, he collected nothing in the libraries for his Dictionary."
. I know not how long I shall stay, or where I shall lodge; but shall be sure to look for you at my arrival, and we shall easily settle the rest. I am, dear Sir,
Your most obedient, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
July 16, 1754.
Of his conversation while at Oxford at this time, Mr. Warton has preserved and communicated to me the following memorial, which, though not written with all the care and attention which that learned and elegant writer bestows on those compositions which he intends for the publick eye, is so happily expressed in an easy style, that I should injure it by any alteration:
When Johnson came to Oxford in 1754, the long vacation was beginning, and most people were leaving the place. This was the first time of his being there, after quitting the University. The next morning after his arrival, he wished to see his old College,
Pembroke.
I went with him. He was highly pleased to find all the College-servants which he had left there still remaining, particularly a very old butler; and expressed great satisfaction at being recognised by them, and conversed with them familiarly. He waited on the master, Dr. Radcliffe, who received him very coldly. Johnson at least expected, that the master would order a copy of his Dictionary, now near publication: but the master did not choose to talk on the subject, never asked Johnson to dine, nor even to visit him, while he stayed at Oxford. After we had left the Lodgings, Johnson said to me,
'There
lives a man, who lives by the revenues of literature, and will not move a finger to support it. If I come to live at Oxford, I shall take up my abode at Trinity.' We then called on the Reverend Mr. Meeke, one of the fellows, and of Johnson's standing. Here was a most cordial greeting on both sides. On leaving him, Johnson said,
'I used to think Meeke had excellent parts, when we were boys together at the College: but, alas!
'Lost in a convent's solitary gloom!'
I remember, at the classical lecture in the Hall, I could not bear Meeke's superiority, and I tried to sit as far from him as I could, that I might not hear him construe.'
As we were leaving the College, he said,
'Here I translated Pope's Messiah. Which do you think is the best line in it? My own favourite is,
'Vallis aromaticas fundit Saronica nubes.'
I told him, I thought it a very sonorous hexameter. I did not tell him, it was not in the Virgilian style. He much regretted that his
first
tutor was dead; for whom he seemed to retain the greatest regard. He said,
'I once had been a whole morning sliding
[skating]
in Christ-Church Meadow, and missed his lecture in logick. After dinner, he sent for me to his room. I expected a sharp rebuke for my idleness, and went with a beating heart. When we were seated, he told me he had sent for me to drink a glass of wine with him, and to tell me, he was
not
angry with me for missing his lecture. This was, in fact, a most severe reprimand. Some more of the boys were then sent for, and we spent a very pleasant afternoon.'
Besides Mr. Meeke, there was only one other Fellow of Pembroke now resident: from both of whom Johnson received the greatest civilities during this visit, and they pressed him very much to have a room in the College.
In the course of this visit (1754), Johnson and I walked, three or four times, to Ellsfield, a village beautifully situated about three miles from Oxford, to see Mr. Wise, Radclivian librarian, with whom Johnson was much pleased. At this place, Mr. Wise had fitted up a house and gardens, in a singular manner, but with great taste. Here was an excellent library; particularly, a valuable collection of books in Northern literature, with which Johnson was often very busy. One day Mr. Wise read to us a dissertation which he was preparing for the press, intitled, 'A History and Chronology of the fabulous Ages.' Some old divinities of Thrace, related to the Titans, and called the CABIRI, made a very important part of the theory of this piece; and in conversation afterwards, Mr. Wise talked much of his CABIRI. As we returned to Oxford in the evening, I out-walked Johnson, and he cried out
Sufflamina,
a Latin word which came from his mouth with peculiar grace, and was as much as to say,
Put on your drag-chain.
Before we got home, I again walked too fast for him; and he now cried out,
'Why, you walk as if you were pursued by all the CABIRI in a body.'
In an evening, we frequently took long walks from Oxford into the country, returning to supper. Once, in our way home, we viewed the ruins of the abbies of Oseney and Rewley, near Oxford. After at least half an hour's silence, Johnson said,
'I viewed them with indignation!'
We had then a long conversation on Gothick buildings; and in talking of the form of old halls, he said,
'In these halls, the fire-place was anciently always in the middle of the room, till the Whigs removed it on one side.'
—About this time there had been an execution of two or three criminals at Oxford on a Monday. Soon afterwards, one day at dinner, I was saying that Mr. Swinton the chaplain of the gaol, and also a frequent preacher before the University, a learned man, but often thoughtless and absent, preached the condemnation-sermon on repentance, before the convicts, on the preceding day, Sunday: and that in the close he told his audience, that he should give them the remainder of what he had to say on the subject, the next Lord's Day. Upon which, one of our company, a Doctor of Divinity, and a plain matter-of-fact-man, by way of offering an apology for Mr. Swinton, gravely remarked, that he had probably preached the same sermon before the University:
'Yes, Sir, (says Johnson) but the University were not to be hanged the next morning.'
I forgot to observe before, that when he left Mr. Meeke, (as I have told above) he added,
'About the same time of life, Meeke was left behind at Oxford to feed on a Fellowship, and I went to London to get my living: now, Sir, see the difference of our literary characters!
The following letter was written by Dr. Johnson to Mr. Chambers, of Lincoln College, now Sir Robert Chambers, one of the Judges in India
Communicated by the Reverend Mr. Thomas Warton, who has the original.
:
To Mr.
CHAMBERS,
of Lincoln College.
DEAR SIR,
THE commission which I delayed to trouble you with at your departure, I am now obliged to send you; and beg that you will be so kind as to carry it to Mr. Warton, of Trinity, to whom I should have written immediately, but that I know not if he be yet come back to Oxford.
In the Catalogue of MSS. of Gr. Brit. see vol. I. pag. 18. MSS. Bodl. MARTYRIUM XV.
martyrum sub Juliano, auctore Theophylacto.
It is desired that Mr. Warton will inquire, and send word, what will be the cost of transcribing this manuscript.
Vol. II. pag. 32. Num. 1022. 58. COLL. NOV.—
Commentaria in Acta Apostol.—Comment. in Septem Epistolas Catholicas.
He is desired to tell what is the age of each of these manuscripts; and what it will cost to have a transcript of the two first pages of each.
If Mr. Warton be not in Oxford, you may try if you can get it done by any body else; or stay till he comes, according to your own convenience. It is for an Italian
literato.
The answer is to be directed to his Excellency Mr. Zon, Venetian Resident, Soho-square.
I hope, dear Sir, that you do not regret the change of London for Oxford. Mr. Baretti is well, and Miss Williams
"I presume she was a relation of Mr. Zachariah Williams, who died in his eighty-third year, July 12, 1755. When Dr. Johnson was with me at Oxford, in 1755, he gave to the Bodleian Library a thin quarto of twenty-one pages, a work in Italian, with an English translation on the opposite page. The English title-page is this: 'An Account of an Attempt to ascertain the Longitude at Sea, by an exact Variation of the Magnetical Needle, &c. By Zachariah Williams. London, printed for Dodsley, 1755.' The English translation, from the strongest internal marks, is unquestionably the work of Johnson. In a blank leaf, Johnson has written the age, and time of death, of the authour Z. Williams, as I have said above. On another blank leaf, is pasted a paragraph from a newspaper, of the death and character of Williams, which is plainly written by Johnson. He was very anxious about placing this book in the Bodleian: and, for fear of any omission or mistake, he entered, in the great Catalogue, the title-page of it, with his own hand."
; and we shall all be glad to hear from you, whenever you shall be so kind as to write to, Sir,
Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Nov. 21, 1754.
The degree of Master of Arts, which, it has been observed, could not be obtained for him at an early period of his life, was now considered as an honour of considerable importance, in order to grace the title-page of his Dictionary; and his character in the-literary world being by this time deservedly high, his friends thought that if proper exertions were made, the University of Oxford would pay him the compliment.
To the Reverend Mr.
THOMAS WARTON.
DEAR SIR,
I AM extremely obliged to you and to Mr. Wise, for the uncommon care which you have taken of my interest
"In procuring him the degree of Master of Arts by diploma at Oxford."
: if you can accomplish your kind design, I shall certainly take me a little habitation among you.
The books which I promised to Mr. Wise
"Lately Fellow of Trinity College, and at this time Radclivian librarian, at Oxford. He was a man of very considerable learning, and eminently skilled in Roman and Anglo-Saxon antiquities. He died in 1767."
, I have not been able to procure: but I shall send him a Finnick Dictionary, the only copy, perhaps, in England, which was presented me by a learned Swede: but I keep it back, that it may make a set of my own books of the new edition, with which I shall accompany it, more welcome. You will assure him of my gratitude.
Poor dear Collins
"Collins (the poet) was at this time at Oxford, on a visit to Mr. Warton; but labouring under the most deplorable languor of body, and dejection of mind."
!—Would a letter give him any pleasure? I have a mind to write.
I am glad of your hindrance in your Spenserian design
"Of publishing a volume of Observations on the best of Spenser's works. It was hindered by my taking pupils in this College."
, yet I would not have it delayed. Three hours a day stolen from sleep and amusement will produce it. Let a Servitour
"Young students of the lowest rank at Oxford are so called."
transcribe the quotations, and interleave them with references, to save time. This will shorten the work, and lessen the fatigue.
Can I do any thing to promoting the diploma? I would not be wanting to co-operate with your kindness; of which, whatever be the effect, I shall be, dear Sir,
Your most obliged, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
Nov. 28, 1754.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
I AM extremely sensible of the favour done me, both by Mr. Wise and yourself. The book
"His Dictionary."
cannot, I think, be printed in less than six weeks, nor probably so soon; and I will keep back the title-page, for such an insertion as you seem to promise me. Be pleased to let me know what money I shall send you, for bearing the expence of the affair: and I will take care that you may have it ready at your hand.
I had lately the favour of a letter from your brother, with some account of poor Collins, for whom I am much concerned. I have a notion, that by very great temperance, or more properly abstinence, he may yet recover.
There is an old English and Latin book of poems by Barclay, called 'The Ship of Fools;' at the end of which are a number of
Eglogues,
so he writes it, from
Egloga,
which are probably the first in our language. If you cannot find the book, I will get Mr. Dodsley to send it you.
I shall be extremely glad to hear from you again, to know if the affair proceeds
"Of the degree at Oxford."
. I have mentioned it to none of my friends, for fear of being laughed at for my disappointment.
You know poor Mr. Dodsley has lost his wife; I believe he is much affected. I hope he will not suffer so much as I yet suffer for the loss of mine.
I have ever since seemed to myself broken off from mankind; a kind of solitary wanderer in the wild of life, without any direction, or fixed point of view: a gloomy gazer on a world to which I have little relation. Yet I would endeavour, by the help of you and your brother, to supply the want of closer union, by friendship: and hope to have long the pleasure of being, dear Sir,
Most affectionately your's, SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
Dec. 21, 1754.
In 1755 we behold him to great advantage; his degree of Master of Arts conferred upon him, his Dictionary published, his correspondence animated, his benevolence exercised.
To the Reverend Mr.
THOMAS WARTON.
DEAR SIR,
I WROTE to you some weeks ago, but believe did not direct accurately, and therefore know not whether you had my letter. I would, likewise, write to your brother, but know not where to find him. I now begin to see land, after having wandered, according to Mr. Warburton's phrase, in this vast sea of words. What reception I shall meet with on the shore, I know not; whether the sound of bells, and acclamations of the people, which Ariosto talks of in his last Canto, or a general murmur of dislike, I know not: whether I shall find upon the coast a Calypso that will court, or a Polypheme that will resist. But if Polypheme comes, have at his eyes. I hope, however, the criticks will let me be at peace; for though I do not much fear their skill and strength, I am a little afraid of myself, and would not willingly feel so much ill-will in my bosom as literary quarrels are apt to excite.
Mr. Barretti is about a work for which he is in great want of Crescimbeni, which you may have again when you please.
There is nothing considerable done or doing among us here. We are not, perhaps, as innocent as villagers, but most of us seem to be as idle. I hope, however, you are busy; and should be glad to know what you are doing. I am, dearest Sir,
Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
Feb. 1, 1755.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
I RECEIVED your letter this day, with great sense of the favour that has been done me
"His degree had now past, according to the usual form, the suffrages of the heads of Colleges: but was not yet finally granted by the University. It was carried without a single dissentient voice."
; for which I return my most sincere thanks: and entreat you to pay to Mr. Wise such returns as I ought to make for so much
kindness so little deserved.
I sent Mr. Wise the Lexicon, and afterwards wrote to him▪ but know not whether he had either the book or letter. Be so good as to contrive to enquire.
But why does my dear Mr. Warton tell me nothing of himself? Where hangs the new volume
"On Spenser."
? Can I help? Let not the past labour be lost, for want of a little more: but snatch what time you can from the Hall, and the pupils, and the coffee-house, and the parks, and complete your design.
I am, dear Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
Feb. 4, 1755.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
I HAD a letter last week from from Mr. Wise, but have yet heard nothing from you, nor know in what state my affair stands
"Of the degree."
; of which I beg you to inform me, if you can, to-morrow, by the return of the post.
Mr. Wise sends me word, that he has not had the Finnick Lexicon yet, which I sent some time ago; and if he has it not, you must enquire after it. However, do not let your letter stay for that.
Your brother, who is a better correspondent than you, and not much better, sends me word, that your pupils keep you in College: but do they keep you from writing too? Let them, at least, give you time to write to, dear Sir,
Your most affectionate, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
Feb. 13, 1755.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
DR. KING
"Principal of Saint Mary Hall at Oxford. He brought with him the diploma from Oxford."
was with me a few minutes before your letter; this, however, is the first instance in which your kind intentions to me have ever been frustrated
"I suppose Johnson means that my
kind intention
of being the
first
to give him the good news of the degree being granted was
frustrated,
because Dr. King brought it before my intelligence arrived."
. I have now the full effect of your care and benevolence; and am far from thinking it a slight honour, or a small advantage; since
it will put the enjoyment of your conversation more frequently in the power of, dear Sir,
Your most obliged and affectionate SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
Feb. 1755.
P. S. I have enclosed a letter to the Vice-Chancellor
"Dr. Huddesford, President of Trinity College."
, which you will read; and, if you like it, seal and give him.
As the publick will doubtless be pleased to see the whole progress of this well-earned academical honour, I shall insert the Chancellor of Oxford's letter to the University
Extracted from the Convocation-Register, Oxford.
, the diploma, and Johnson's letter of thanks to the Vice-Chancellor.
To the Reverend Dr.
HUDDESFORD, Vice-Chancellor
of the
University
of
Oxford,
to be communicated to the Heads of Houses, and proposed in Convocation.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, and Gentlemen,
MR. SAMUEL JOHNSON, who was formerly of Pembroke College, having very eminently distinguished himself by the publication of a series of essays, excellently calculated to form the manners of the people, and in which the cause of religion and morality is every where maintained by the strongest powers of argument and language, and who shortly intends to publish a Dictionary of the English Tongue, formed on a new plan, and executed with the greatest labour and judgement; I persuade myself that I shall act agreeably to the sentiments of the whole University, in desiring that it may be proposed in convocation to confer on him the degree of Master of Arts by diploma, to which I readily give my consent; and am,
Mr. Vice-Chancellor, and Gentlemen,
Your affectionate friend and servant, ARRAN.
Grosvenor-street,
Feb. 4, 1755.
Term. St• . Hilarii. 1755.
DIPLOMA MAGISTRI JOHNSON.
CANCELLARIUS, Magistri et Scholares Universitatis Oxoniensis omnibus ad quos hoc presens scriptum pervenerit, salutem in Domino sempiternam.
Cùm eum in finem gradus academici a majoribus nostris instituti fuerint, ut viri ingenio et doctrinâ praestantes titulis quoque praeter caeteros insignirentur; cùmque vir doctissimus Samuel Johnson è Collegio Pembrochiensi, scriptis suis popularium mores informantibus dudum literato orbi innotuerit; quin et linguae patriae tum ornandae tum stabiliendae (Lexicon scilicet Anglicanum summo studio, summo a se judicio congestum propediem editurus) etiam nunc utilissimam impendat operam; Nos igitur Cancellarius, Magistri, et Scholares antedicti, nè virum de literis humanioribus optimè meritum diutius inhonoratum praetereamus, in solenni Convocatione Doctorum, Magistrorum, Regentium, et non Regentium, decimo die Mensis Februarii Anno Domini Millesimo Septengentessimo Quinquagesimo quinto habitâ, praefatum virum Samuelem Johnson (conspirantibus omnium suffragiis) magistrum in artibus renunciavimus et constituimus; eumque, virtute praesentis diplomatis, singulis juribus privilegiis et honoribus ad istum gradum quàquà pertinentibus frui et gaudere jussimus.
In cujus rei testimonium sigillum Universitatis Oxoniensis praesentibus apponi fecimus.
Datum in Domo nostrae Convocationis die
20o
Mensis Feb. Anno Dom. praedicto.
Diploma supra scriptum per Registrarium lectum erat, et ex decreto venerabilis Domûs communi Universitatis sigillo munitum
The orignal is in my possession.
.
DOM. DOCTORI HUDDESFORD, OXONIENSIS ACADEMIAE VICE-CANCELLARIO.
INGRATUS planè et tibi et mihi videar, nisi quanto me gaudio affecerint, quos nuper mihi honores (te credo auctore) decrevit Senatus Academicus, literarum, quo tamen nihil levius, officio, significem: ingratus etiam, nisi comitatem, quâ vir eximius
We may conceive what a high gratification it must have been to Johnson to receive his diploma from the hands of the great Dr. KING, whose principles were so congenial with his own.
mihi vestri testimonium amoris in manus tradidit, agnoscam et laudem. Si quid est undè rei tam gratae accedat gratia, hoc ipso magis mihi placet, quod eo tempore in ordines Academicos denuo cooptatus sim, quo tuam imminuere auctoritatem, famamque Oxonii laedere, omnibus modis conantur homines vafri, nec tamem acuti: quibus ego, prout viro umbratico licuit, semper restiti, semper restiturus. Qui enim, inter has rerum procellas, vel Tibi vel Academiae desuerit, illum virtuti et literis, sibique et posteris, defuturum existimo.
S. JOHNSON.
To the Reverend Mr.
THOMAS WARTON.
DEAR SIR,
AFTER I received my diploma, I wrote you a letter of thanks, with a letter to the Vice-Chancellor, and sent another to Mr. Wise; but have heard from nobody since, and begin to think myself forgotten. It is true, I sent you a double letter, and you may fear an expensive correspondent; but I would have taken it kindly, if you had returned it treble: and what is a double letter to a
petty king,
that having
fellowship and fines,
can sleep without a
Modus in his head
"The words in Italicks are allusions to passages in Mr. Warton's poem, called 'The PROGRESS of DISCONTENT,' now lately published."
?
Dear Mr. Warton, let me hear from you, and tell me something, I care not what, so I hear it but from you. Something I will tell you:—I hope to see my Dictionary bound and lettered, next week;—
vastâ mole superbus.
And I have a great mind to come to Oxford at Easter; but you will not invite me. Shall I come uninvited, or stay here where nobody perhaps would miss me if I went? A hard choice! But such is the world to, dear Sir,
Your, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
March 20, 1755.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
THOUGH not to write, when a man can write so well, is an offence sufficiently heinous, yet I shall pass it by. I am very glad that the Vice-Chancellor was pleased with my note. I shall impatiently expect you at London, that we may consider what to do next. I intend in the winter to open a
Bibliotheque,
and remember, that you are to subscribe a sheet a year; let us try, likewise, if we cannot persuade your brother to subscribe another. My book is now coming
in luminis oras.
What will be its fate I know not, nor think much, because thinking is to no purpose. It must stand the censure of the
great vulgar and the small;
of those that understand it, and that understand it not. But in all this, I suffer not alone: every writer has the same difficulties, and, perhaps, every writer talks of them more than he thinks.
You will be pleased to make my compliments to all my friends: and be so kind, at every idle hour, as to remember, dear Sir,
Your, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
March 25, 1755.
Dr. Adams told me, that this scheme of a
Bibliotheque
was a serious one; for upon his visiting him one day, he found his parlour floor covered with parcels of foreign and English literary journals, and he told Dr. Adams he meant to undertake a Review.
"How, Sir, (said Dr. Adams, can you think of doing it alone? All branches of knowledge must be considered in it. Do you know Mathematicks? Do you know Natural History?"
Johnson answered,
"Why, Sir, I must do as well as I can. My chief purpose is to give my countrymen a view of what is doing in literature upon the continent; and I shall have, in a good measure, the choice of my subject, for I shall select such books as I best understand."
Dr. Adams suggested, that as Dr. Maty had just then finished his
Bibliotheque Britannique,
which was a well executed work, giving foreigners an account of British publications, he might, with great advantage, assume him as an assistant.
"He,
(said Johnson,) the little black dog! I'd throw him into the Thames."
The scheme, however, was dropped.
In one of his little memorandum-books I find the following hints for his intended Review or Literary Journal:
"The Annals of Literature, foreign as well as domestick.
Imitate Le Clerk—Bayle—Barbeyrac. Infelicity of Journals in England. Works of the learned. We cannot take in all. Sometimes copy from foreign Journalists. Always tell."
To Dr.
BIRCH.
SIR,
March 29, 1755.
I HAVE sent some parts of my Dictionary, such as were at hand, for your inspection. The favour which I beg is, that if you do not like them you will say nothing. I am, Sir,
Your most affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
To Mr.
SAMUEL JOHNSON.
SIR,
Norfolk-street,
April 3, 1755▪
THE part of your Dictionary which you have favoured me with the sight of has given me such an idea of the whole, that I most sincerely congratulate the publick upon the acquisition of a work long wanted, and now executed with an industry, accuracy, and judgement, equal to the importance of the subject. You might, perhaps, have chosen one in which your genius would have appeared to more advantage; but you could not have fixed upon any other in which your labours would have done such substantial service to the present age and to posterity. I am glad that your health has supported the application necessary to the performance of so vast a task; and can undertake to promise you as one (though perhaps the only) reward of it, the approbation and thanks of every well-wisher to the honour of the English language. I am, with the greatest regard, Sir,
Your most faithful And most affectionate humble servant, THO. BIRCH.
Mr. Charles Burney, who has since distinguished himself so much in the science of Musick, and obtained a Doctor's degree from the University of Oxford, had been driven from the capital by bad health, and was now residing at Lynn Regis, in Norfolk. He had been so much delighted with Johnson's Rambler, and the Plan of his Dictionary, that when the great work was announced in the newspapers as nearly finished, he wrote to Dr. Johnson, begging to be informed when and in what manner his Dictionary would be published; intreating, if it should be by subscription, or he should have any books at his own disposal, to be favoured with six copies for himself and friends.
In answer to this application, Dr. Johnson wrote the following letter, of which (to use Dr. Burney's own words)
"if it be remembered that it was written to an obscure young man, who at this time had not much distinguished himself even in his own profession, but whose name could never have reached the authour of THE RAMBLER, the politeness and urbanity may be opposed to some of the stories which have been lately circulated of Dr. Johnson's natural rudeness and ferocity."
To Mr.
BURNEY,
in Lynne Regis, Norfolk.
SIR,
IF you imagine that by delaying my answer I intended to shew any neglect of the notice with which you have favoured me, you will neither think justly of yourself nor of me. Your civilities were offered with too much elegance not to engage attention; and I have too much pleasure in pleasing men like you, not to feel very sensibly the distinction which you have bestowed upon me.
Few consequences of my endeavours to please or to benefit mankind have delighted me more than your friendship thus voluntarily offered, which now I have it I hope to keep, because I hope to continue to deserve it.
I have no Dictionaries to dispose of for myself, but shall be glad to have you direct your friends to Mr. Dodsley, because it was by his recommendation that I was employed in the work.
When you have leisure to think again upon me, let me be favoured with another letter; and another yet, when you have looked into my Dictionary. If you find faults, I shall endeavour to mend them; if you find none, I shall think you blinded by kind partiality: but to have made you partial in his favour, will very much gratify the ambition of, Sir,
Your most obliged And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Gough-square, Fleet-street,
April 8, 1755.
Mr. Andrew Millar, bookseller in the Strand, took the principal charge of conducting the publication of Johnson's Dictionary; and as the patience of the proprietors was repeatedly tried and almost exhausted, by their expecting that the work would be completed within the time which Johnson had sanguinely supposed, the learned authour was often goaded to dispatch, more especially as he had received all the copy-money, by different drafts, a considerable time before he had finished his task. When the messenger who carried the last sheet to Millar returned, Johnson asked him,
"Well, what did he say?"
—
"Sir, (answered the messenger) he said, thank GOD I have done with him.▪
"I am glad (replied Johnson, with a smile,) that he thanks GOD for any thing
Sir John Hawkins, p. 341, inserts two notes as having passed formally between Andrew Millar and Johnson, to the above effect. I am assured this was not the case. In the way of incidental remark it was a pleasant play of raillery. To have deliberately written notes in such terms would have been morose.
."
It is remarkable, that those with whom Johnson chiefly contracted for his literary labours were Scotchmen, Mr. Millar and Mr. Strahan. Millar, though himself no great judge of literature, had good sense enough to have for his friends very able men to give him their opinion and advice in the purchase of copy-right; the consequence of which was his acquiring a very large fortune, with great liberality. Johnson said of him,
"I respect Millar, Sir; he has raised the price of literature."
The same praise may be justly given to Pancoek, the eminent bookseller of Paris. Mr. Strahan's liberality, judgement, and success, are well known.
To the Reverend Mr.
THOMAS WARTON.
DEAR SIR,
I AM grieved that you should think me capable of neglecting your letters; and beg you will never admit any such suspicion again. I purpose to come down next week, if you shall be there; or any other week, that shall be more agreeable to you. Therefore let me know. I can stay this visit but a week, but intend to make preparations for a longer stay next time; being resolved not to lose sight of the University. How goes Apollonius
"A translation of Appollonius Rhodius was now intended by Mr. Warton."
? Don't let him be forgotten. Some things of this kind must be done, to keep us up. Pay my compliments to Mr. Wise, and all my other friends. I think to come to Kettel-Hall.
I am, Sir, Your most affectionate,▪ &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
May 13, 1755.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
IT is strange how many things will▪ happen to intercept every pleasure, though it [be] only that of two friends meeting together. I have promised myself every day to inform you when you might expect me at Oxford, and have not been able to fix a time. The time, however, is, I think, at last come; and I promise myself to repose in Kettel-Hall, one of the first nights of the next week. I am afraid my stay with you cannot be long; but what is the inference? We must endeavour to make it chearful. I wish your brother could meet us, that we might go and drink tea with Mr. Wise in a body. I hope he will be at Oxford, or at his nest of British and Saxon antiquities
"At Ellsfield, a village three miles from Oxford."
. I shall expect to see Spenser finished, and many other things begun. Dodsley is gone to visit the Dutch. The Dictionary sells well. The rest of the world goes on as it did.
Dear Sir,
Your most affectionate, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
June 10, 1755.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
TO talk of coming to you, and not yet to come, has an air of trifling which I would not willingly have among you; and which, I believe, you will not willingly impute to me, when I have told you, that since my promise, two of our partners
"Booksellers concerned in his Dictionary."
are dead, and that I was solicited to suspend my excursion till we could recover from our confusion.
I have not laid aside my purpose; for every day makes me more impatient of staying from you. But death, you know, hears not supplications, nor pays any regard to the convenience of mortals. I hope now to see you next week; but next week is but another name for to-morrow, which has been noted for promising and deceiving.
I am, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
June 24, 1755.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
I TOLD you, that among the manuscripts are some things of Sir Thomas More. I beg you to pass an hour in looking on them, and procure a transcript of the ten or twenty first lines of each, to be compared with what I have; that I may know whether they are yet unpublished. The manuscripts are these:
Catalogue of Bodl. MS. pag. 122. F. 3. Sir Thomas More.
1. Fall of angels. 2. Creation and fall of mankind. 3. Determination of the Trinity for the rescue of mankind. 4. Five lectures of our Saviour's passion. 5. Of the institution of the sacrament, three lectures. 6. How to receive the blessed body of our Lord sacramentally. 7. Neomenia, the new moon. 8.
De tristitia, taedio, pavore, et oratione Christi, ante captionem ejus.
Catalogue, pag. 154. Life of Sir Thomas More.
Qu.
Whether Roper's? Pag. 363.
De resignatione Magni Sigilli in manus Regis per D. Thomam Morum.
Pag. 364.
Mori Defensio Moriae.
If you procure the young gentleman in the library to write out what you think fit to be written, I will send to Mr. Prince the bookseller to pay him what you shall think proper.
Be pleased to make my compliments to Mr. Wise, and all my friends. I am, Sir,
Your affectionate, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
Aug. 7, 1755.
The Dictionary, with a Grammar and History of the English Language, being now at length published, in two volumes folio, the world contemplated with wonder so stupendous a work atchieved by one man, while other countries had thought such undertakings fit only for whole academies. Vast as his powers were, I cannot but think that his imagination deceived him, when he supposed that by constant application he might have performed the task in three years. Let the Preface be attentively perused, in which is given, in a clear, strong, and glowing style, a comprehensive, yet particular view of what he had done; and it will be evident, that the time he employed upon it was comparatively short. I am unwilling to swell my book with long quotations from what is in every body's hands; and I believe there are few prose compositions in the English language that are read with more delight, or are more impressed upon the memory, than that preliminary discourse. One of its excellencies has always struck me with peculiar admiration; I mean the perspicuity with which he has expressed abstract scientifick notions. As an instance of this, I shall quote the following sentence:
"When the radical idea branches out into parallel ramifications, how can a consecutive series be formed of senses in their own nature collateral?"
We have here an example of what has been often said, and I believe with justice, that there is for every thought a certain nice adaptation of words which none other could equal, and which, when a man has been so fortunate as to hit, he has attained, in that particular case, to the perfection of language.
The extensive reading which was absolutely necessary for the accumulation of authorities, and which alone may account for Johnson's retentive mind being enriched with a very large and various store of knowledge and imagery, must have occupied several years. The Preface furnishes an eminent instance of a double talent, of which Johnson was fully conscious. Sir Joshua Reynolds has heard him say,
"There are two things which I am confident I can do very well: one is an introduction to any literary work, stating what it is to contain, and how it should be executed in the most perfect manner; the other is a conclusion, shewing from various causes why the execution has not been equal to what the authour promised to himself and to the publick."
How should puny scribblers be abashed and disappointed, when they find him displaying a perfect theory of lexicographical excellence, yet at the same time candidly and modestly allowing that he
"had not satisfied his own expectations."
Here was a fair occasion for the exercise of Johnson's modesty, when he was called upon to compare his own arduous performance, not with those of other individuals, (in which case his inflexible regard to truth would have been violated, had he affected diffidence,) but with speculative perfection; as he, who can outstrip all his competitors in the race, may yet be sensible of his deficiency when he runs against time. Well might he say, that
"the English Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned;"
for he told me, that the only aid which he received was a paper containing twenty etymologies, sent to him by a person then unknown, who he was afterwards informed was Dr. Pearce, Bishop of Rochester. The etymologies, though they exhibit learning and judgement, are not, I think, entitled to the first praise amongst the various parts of this immense work. The definitions have always appeared to me such astonishing proofs of acuteness of intellect and precision of language, as indicate a genius of the highest rank. This it is which marks the superiour excellence of Johnson's Dictionary over others equally or even more voluminous, and must have made it a work of much greater mental labour than mere Lexicons, or
Word Books,
as the Dutch call them. They, who will make the experiment of trying how they can define a few words of whatever nature, will soon be satisfied of the unquestionable justice of this observation, which I can assure my readers is founded upon much study, and upon communication with more minds than my own.
A few of his definitions must be admitted to be erroneous. Thus,
Windward
and
Leeward,
though directly of opposite meaning, are defined identically the same way; as to which inconsiderable specks it is enough to observe, that his Preface announces that he was aware there might be many such in so immense a work; nor was he at all disconcerted when an instance was pointed out to him. A lady once asked him how he came to define
Pastern
the
knee
of a horse: instead of making an elaborate defence, as she expected, he at once answered,
"Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance."
His definition of
Network
has been often quoted with sportive malignity, as obscuring a thing in itself very plain. But to these frivolous censures no other answer is necessary than that with which we are furnished by his own Preface.
"To explain, requires the use of terms less abstruse than that which is to be explained, and such terms cannot always be found. For as nothing can be proved but by supposing something intuitively known, and evident without proof, so nothing can be defined but by the use of words too plain to admit of definition. Sometimes easier words are changed into harder; as,
burial,
into
sepulture
or
interment; dry,
into
desiecative; dryness,
into
siccity
or
aridity; fit,
into
paroxysm;
for, the
easiest
word, whatever it be, can never be translated into one more easy."
His introducing his own opinions, and even prejudices, under general definitions of words, while at the same time the original meaning of the words is not explained, as his
Tory, Whig, Pension, Oats, Excise,
and a few more, cannot be fully defended, and must be placed to the account of capricious and humourous indulgence. Talking to me upon this subject when we were at Ashbourne in 1777, he mentioned a still stronger instance of the predominance of his private feelings in the composition of this work, than any now to be found in it.
"You know, Sir, Lord Gower forsook the old Jacobite interest. When I came to the word
Renegado,
after telling that it meant 'one who deserts to the enemy, a revolter,' I added,
Sometimes we say a
GOWER. Thus it went to the press; but the printer had more wit than I, and struck it out."
Let it, however, be remembered, that this indulgence does not display itself only in sarcasm towards others, but sometimes in playful allusion to the notions commonly entertained of his own laborious task. Thus:
"Grub-street,
the name of a street in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories,
dictionaries,
and temporary poems; whence any mean production is called
Grub-street.
"
—
"
Lexicographer,
a writer of dictionaries, a
harmless drudge."
At the time when he was concluding his very eloquent Preface, Johnson's mind appears to have been in such a state of depression, that we cannot contemplate without wonder the vigorous and splendid thoughts which so highly distinguish that performance.
"I (says he) may surely be contented without the praise of perfection, which if I could obtain in this gloom of solitude, what would it avail me? I have protracted my work till most of those whom I wished to please, have sunk into the grave; and success and miscarriage are empty sounds. I therefore dismiss it with frigid tranquillity, having little to fear or hope from censure or from praise."
That this indifference was rather a temporary than an habitual feeling, appears, I think, from his letters to Mr. Warton; and however he may have been affected for the moment, certain it is that the honours which his great work procured him, both at home and abroad, were very grateful to him. His friend the Earl of Corke and Orrery, being at Florence, presented it to the
Academia della Crusca.
That Academy sent Johnson their
Vocabulario,
and the French Academy sent him their
Dictionnaire,
which Mr. Langton had the pleasure to convey to him.
It must undoubtedly seem strange, that the conclusion of his Preface should be expressed in terms so desponding, when it is considered that the authour was then only in his forty-sixth year. But we must ascribe its gloom to that miserable dejection of spirits to which he was constitutionally subject, and which was aggravated by the death of his wife two years before. I have heard it ingeniously observed by a lady of rank and elegance, that
"his melancholy was then at its meridian."
It pleased GOD to grant him almost thirty years of life after this time; and once, when he was in a placid frame of mind, he was obliged to own to me that he had enjoyed happier days, and had had many more friends, since that gloomy hour than before.
It is a sad saying, that
"most of those whom he wished to please had sunk into the grave,"
and his case at forty-five was singularly unhappy, unless the circle of his friends was very narrow. I have often thought, that as longevity is generally desired, and, I believe, generally expected, it would be wise to be continually adding to the number of our friends, that the loss of some may be supplied by others. Friendship,
"the wine of life,"
should, like a wellstocked cellar, be thus continually renewed; and it is consolatory to think, that although we can seldom add what will equal the generous
first-growths
of our youth, yet friendship becomes insensibly old in much less time than is commonly imagined▪ and not many years are required to make it very mellow and pleasant. Warmth will, no doubt, make a considerable difference. Men of affectionate temper and bright fancy will coalesce a great deal sooner than those who are cold and dull.
The proposition which I have now endeavoured to illustrate was, at an after period of his life, the opinion of Johnson himself. He said to Sir Joshua Reynolds,
"If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in
constant repair."
The celebrated Mr. Wilkes, whose notions and habits of life were very opposite to his, but who was ever eminent for literature and vivacity, sallied forth with a little
Jeu d' Esprit
upon the following passage in his Grammar of the English Tongue, prefixed to the Dictionary:
"H
seldom, perhaps never, begins any but the first syllable."
In an essay printed in the Publick Advertiser, this lively writer enumerated many instances in opposition to this remark; for example,
"The authour of this observation must be a man of a quick
appre-hension,
and of a most
compre-hensive
genius."
The position is undoubtedly expressed with too much latitude.
This light sally, we may suppose, made no great impression on our Lexicographer, for we find that he never altered the passage.
He had the pleasure of being treated in a very different manner by his old pupil Mr. Garrick, in the following complimentary Epigram:
On
JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY.
"TALK of war with a Briton, he'll boldly advance,
"That one English soldier will beat ten of France;
"Would we alter the boast from the sword to the pen,
"Our odds are still greater, still greater our men:
"In the deep mines of science though Frenchmen may toil,
"Can their strength be compar'd to Locke, Newton, and Boyle?
"Let them rally their heroes, send forth all their pow'rs,
"Their verse-men and prose-men; then match them with ours!
"First Shakspeare and Milton, like gods in the fight,
"Have put their whole drama and epic to flight;
"In satires, epistles, and odes, would they cope,
"Their numbers retreat before Dryden and Pope;
"And Johnson, well arm'd like a hero of yore,
"Has beat forty French
The number of the French Academy employed in settling their language.
, and will beat forty more!"
Johnson this year gave at once a proof of his benevolence, quickness of apprehension, and admirable art of composition, in the assistance which he gave to Mr. Zachariah Williams, father of the blind lady whom he had humanely received under his roof. Mr. Williams had followed the profession of physick in Wales; but having a very strong propensity to the study of natural philosophy, had made many ingenious advances towards a discovery of the longitude, and repaired to London in hopes of obtaining the great parliamentary reward. He failed of success; but Johnson having made himself master of his principles and experiments, wrote for him a pamphlet, published in quarto, with the following title;
"An Account of an Attempt to ascertain the Longitude at Sea, by an exact Theory of the Variation of the magnetical Needle; with a Table of the Variations at the most remarkable Cities in Europe, from the year 1660 to 1860."
To diffuse it more extensively, it was accompanied with an Italian translation on the opposite page, which it is supposed was the work of Signor Baretti, an Italian of considerable literature, who having come to England a few years before, had been employed in the capacity both of a language-master and an authour, and formed an intimacy with Dr. Johnson. This pamphlet Johnson presented to the Bodleian Library
See note by Mr. Warton, p. 149.
. On a blank leaf of it is pasted a paragraph cut out of a newspaper, containing an account of the death and character of Williams, plainly written by Johnson
"On Saturday the 12th, about twelve at night, died Mr. Zachariah Williams, in his eighty-third year, after an illness of eight months, in full possession of his mental faculties. He has been long known to philosophers and seamen for his skill in magnetism, and his proposal to ascertain the longitude by a peculiar system of the variation of the compass. He was a man of industry indefatigable, of conversation inoffensive, patient of adversity and discase, eminently sober, temperate, and pious; and worthy to have ended life with better fortune."
.
In July this year he had formed some scheme of mental improvement, the particular purpose of which does not appear. But we find in his
"Prayers and Meditations,"
p. 24, a prayer entitled
"On the Study of Philosophy▪ as an Instrument of living;"
and after it follows a note,
"This study was not pursued."
In 1756 Johnson found that the great fame of his Dictionary had not set him above the necessity of
"making provision for the day that was passing over him."
No royal or noble patron extended a munificent hand to give independence to the man who had conferred stability on the language of his country. We may feel indignant that there should have been such unworthy neglect; but we must, at the same time, congratulate ourselves, that to this very neglect, operating to rouse the natural indolence of his constitution, we owe many valuable productions, which otherwise, perhaps, might never have appeared.
He had spent, during the progress of the work, the money for which he had contracted to write his Dictionary. We have seen that the reward of his labour was only fifteen hundred and seventy-five pounds; and when the expence of amanuenses and paper, and other articles are deducted, his clear profit was
very inconsiderable. I once said to him
"I am sorry, Sir, you did not get more for your Dictionary."
His answer was,
"I am sorry too. But it was very well. The booksellers are generous liberal-minded men."
He, upon all occasions, did ample justice to their character in this respect. He considered them as the patrons of literature; and, indeed, although they have eventually been considerable gainers by his Dictionary, it is to them that we owe its having been undertaken and carried through at the risk of great expence, for they were not absolutely sure of being indemnified.
On the first day of this year we find from his private devotions, that he had then recovered from sickness
Prayers and Meditations, p. 25.
; and in February that his eye was restored to its use
Ibid. p. 27.
. The pious gratitude with which he acknowledges mercies upon every occasion is very edifying; as is the humble submission which he breathes when it is the will of his heavenly Father to try him with afflictions. As such dispositions become the state of man here, and are the true effects of religious discipline, we cannot but venerate in Johnson one of the most exercised minds that our holy religion hath ever formed. If there be any thoughtless enough to suppose such exercise the weakness of a great understanding, let them look up to Johnson, and be convinced that what he so earnestly practised must have a rational foundation.
His works this year were, an abstract or epitome, in octavo, of his folio Dictionary, and a few essays in a monthly publication, entitled,
"THE UNIVERSAL VISITER."
Christopher Smart, with whose unhappy vacillation of mind he sincerely sympathised, was one of the stated undertakers of this miscellany; and it was to assist him that Johnson sometimes employed his pen. All the essays marked with two
asterisks
have been ascribed to him; but I am confident, from internal evidence, that of these, neither
"The Life of Chaucer,"
"Reflections on the State of Portugal,"
nor an
"Essay on Architecture,"
were written by him. I am equally confident, upon the same evidence, that he wrote
"Further Thoughts on Agriculture, †"
being the sequel of a very inferiour essay on the same subject, and which, though carried on as if by the same hand, is both in thinking and expression so far above it, and so strikingly peculiar, as to leave no doubt of its true parent; and that he also wrote
"A Dissertation on the State of Literature and Authours, †"
and
"A Dissertation on the Epitaphs written by Pope. †"
The last of these, indeed, he afterwards added to his
"Idler."
Why the essays truly written by him are marked in the same manner with some he did not write, I cannot explain; but with diference to those who have ascribed to him the three essays which I have rejected, they want all the characteristical marks of Johnsonian composition.
He engaged also to superintend and contribute largely to another monthly publication, entitled
"THE LITERARY MAGAZINE, OR UNIVERSAL REVIEW;"
the first number of which came out in May this year. What were his emoluments from this undertaking, and what other writers were employed in it, I have not discovered. He continued to write in it, with intermissions, till the fifteenth number; and I think that he never gave better proofs of the force, acuteness, and vivacity of his mind, than in this miscellany, whether we consider his original essays, or his reviews of the works of others. The
"Preliminary Address"
to the publick is a proof how this great man could embellish even so trite a thing as the plan of a magazine with the graces of superiour composition.
His original essays are,
"An Introduction to the political State of Great-Britain; †"
"Remarks on the Militia Bill; †"
"Observations on his Britannick Majesty's Treaties with the Empress of Russia and the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel; †
"Observations on the present State of Affairs; †"
and,
"Memoirs of Frederick III. King of Prussia. †"
In all these he displays extensive political knowledge and sagacity, expressed with uncommon energy and perspicuity, without any of those words which he sometimes took a pleasure in adopting, in imitation of Sir Thomas Browne, of whose
"Christian Morals"
he this year gave an edition, with his
"Life*"
prefixed to it, which is one of Johnson's best biographical performances. In one instance only in these essays has he indulged his
Brownism.
Dr. Robertson, the historian, mentioned it to me, as having at once convinced him that Johnson was the authour of the
"Memoirs of the King of Prussia."
Speaking of the pride which the old King, the father of his hero, took in being master of the tallest regiment in Europe, he says,
"To review this
towering
regiment was his daily pleasure, and to perpetuate it was so much his care, that when he met a tall woman he immediately commanded one of his
Titanian
retinue to marry her, that they might
propagate procerity."
For this Anglo-Latian word
procerity,
Johnson had, however, the authority of Addison.
His reviews are of the following books:
"Birch's History of the Royal Society; †"
"Murphy's Gray's-Inn Journal †"
"Warton's Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope. Vol. I. †"
"Hampton's Translation of Polybius; †"
"Blackwell's Memoirs of the Court of Augustus; †"
"Russel's Natural History of Aleppo; †"
"Sir Isaac Newton's Arguments in Proof of a Deity; †"
"Borlase's History of the Isles of Scilly; †"
"Home's Experiments on Bleaching; †"
"Browne's Christian Morals; †"
"Hales on distilling Sea-Water, Ventilators in Ships, and curing an ill Taste in Milk; †"
"Lucas's Essay on Waters; †"
"Keith's Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops; †"
"Browne's History of Jamaica; †"
"Philosophical Transactions. Vol. XLIX. †"
"Mrs. Lennox's Translation of Sully's Memoirs; *"
"Miscellanies by Elizabeth Harrison; †"
"Evans's Map and Account of the middle Colonies in America; †"
"Letter on the Case of Admiral Byng; *"
"Appeal to the People concerning Admiral Byng; *"
"Hanway's Eight Days Journey, and Essay on Tea; *"
"The Cadet, a military Treatise; †"
"Some further Particulars in Relation to the Case of Admiral Byng, by a Gentleman of Oxford; *"
"The Conduct of the Ministry relating to the present War impartially examined; †"
"A Free Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil. *"
All these, from internal evidence, were written by Johnson; some of them I know he avowed, and have marked them with an
asterisk
accordingly. Mr. Thomas Davies, indeed, ascribed to him the Review of Mr. Burke's
"Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful;"
and Sir John Hawkins, with equal discernment, has inserted it in his collection of Johnson's works. Whereas it has no resemblance to Johnson's composition, and is well known to have been written by Mr. Murphy, who has acknowledged it to me and many others.
It is worthy of remark, in justice to Johnson's political character, which has been misrepresented as abjectly submissive to power, that his
"Observations on the present State of Affairs,"
glow with as animated a spirit of constitutional liberty as can be found any where. Thus he begins,
"The time is now come, in which every Englishman expects to be informed of the national affairs, and in which he has a right to have that expectation gratified. For whatever may be urged by ministers, or those whom vanity or interest make the followers of ministers, concerning the necessity of confidence in our governours, and the presumption of prying with profane eyes into the recesses of policy, it is evident that this reverence can be claimed only by counsels yet unexecuted, and projects suspended in deliberation. But when a design has ended in miscarriage or success, when every eye and every ear is witness to general discontent, or general satisfaction, it is then a proper time to disentangle confusion and illustrate obscurity, to shew by what causes every event was produced, and in what effects it is likely to terminate; to lay down with distinct particularity what rumour always huddles in general exclamation, or perplexes by indigested narratives; to shew whence happiness or calamity is derived, and whence it may be expected; and honestly to lay before the people what inquiry can gather of the past, and conjecture can estimate of the future."
Here we have it assumed as an incontrovertible principle, that in this country the people are the superintendants of the conduct and measures of those by whom government is administered, of the beneficial effect of which the present reign afforded an illustrious example, when addresses from all parts of the kingdom controuled an audacious attempt to introduce a new power subversive of the crown.
A still stronger proof of his patriotick spirit appears in his review of an
"Essay on Waters, by Dr. Lucas;"
of whom, after describing him as a man well known to the world for his daring defiance of power, when he thought it exerted on the side of wrong, he thus speaks:
"The Irish ministers drove him from his native country by a proclamation, in which they charged him with crimes of which they never intended to be called to the proof, and oppressed him by methods equally irresistible by guilt and innocence.
"Let the man thus driven into exile for having been the friend of his country, be received in every other place as a confessor of liberty; and let the tools of power be taught in time, that they may rob, but cannot impoverish."
Some of his reviews in this magazine are very short accounts of the pieces noticed, and I mention them only that Dr. Johnson's opinion of the works may be known; but many of them are examples of elaborate criticism, in the most masterly style. In his review of the
"Memoirs of the Court of Augustus,"
he has the resolution to think and speak from his own mind, regardless of the cant transmitted from age to age, in praise of the ancient Romans. Thus:
"I know not why any one but a school-boy in his declamation should whine over the Common-wealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest of mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew corrupt; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of themselves, and of one another."
Again,
"A people, who while they were poor robbed mankind; and as soon as they became rich, robbed one another."
In his review of the Miscellanies in prose and verse, published by Elizabeth Harrison, but written by many hands, he gives an eminent proof at once of his orthodoxy and candour.
"The authours of the essays in prose seem generally to have imitated, or tried to imitate, the copiousness and luxuriance of Mrs.
Rowe.
This, however, is not all their praise; they have laboured to add to her brightness of imagery, her purity of sentiments. The poets have had Dr.
Watts
before their eyes; a writer, who, if he stood not in the first class of genius, compensated that defect by a ready application of his powers to the promotion of piety. The attempt to employ the ornaments of romance in the decoration of religion, was, I think, first made by Mr.
Boyle's Martyrdom of Theodora;
but
Boyle's
philosophical studies did not allow him time for the cultivation of style; and the completion of the great design was reserved for Mrs.
Rowe.
Dr. Watts was one of the first who taught the Dissenters to write and speak like other men, by shewing them that elegance might consist with piety. They would have both done honour to a better society, for they had that charity which might well make their failings be forgotten, and with which the whole Christian world might wish for communion. They were pure from all the heresies of an age, to which every opinion is become a favourite that the universal church has hitherto detested!
"This praise, the general interest of mankind requires to be given to writers who please and do not corrupt, who instruct and do not weary. But to them all human eulogies are vain, whom I believe applauded by angels, and numbered with the just."
His defence of tea against Mr. Jonas Hanway's violent attack upon that elegant and popular beverage, shews how very well a man of genius can write upon the slightest subject, when he writes, as the Italians say,
can amore:
I suppose no person ever enjoyed with more relish the infusion of that fragrant leaf than Johnson. The quantities which he drank of it at all hours were so great, that his nerves must have been uncommonly strong, not to have been extremely relaxed by such an intemperate use of it. He assured me, that he never felt the least inconvenience from it; which is a proof that the fault of his constitution was rather a too great tension of fibres, than the contrary. Mr. Hanway wrote an angry answer to Johnson's review of his Essay on Tea, and Johnson, after a full and deliberate pause, made a reply to it; the only instance, I believe, in the whole course of his life, when he condescended to oppose any thing that was written against him. I suppose when he thought of any of his little antagonists, he was ever justly aware of the high sentiment of Ajax in Ovid:
"Iste tulit pretium jam nunc certaminis hujus,
"Qui, cùm victus erit, mecum certasse feretur."
But, indeed, the good Mr. Hanway laid himself so open to ridicule, that Johnson's animadversions upon his attack were chiefly to make sport.
The generosity with which he pleads the cause of Admiral Byng is highly to the honour of his heart and spirit. Though
Voltaire
affects to be witty upon the fate of that unfortunate officer, observing that he was shot
"pour encourager les autres,"
the nation has long been satisfied that his life was sacrificed to the political fervour of the times. In the vault belonging to the Torrington family, in the church of Southill, in Bedfordshire, there is the following Epitaph upon his monument, which I have transcribed:
"TO THE PERPETUAL DISGRACE
"OF PUBLICK JUSTICE,
"THE HONOURABLE JOHN BYNG, ESQ.
"ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE,
"FELL A MARTYR TO POLITICAL
"PERSECUTION,
"MARCH 14, IN THE YEAR, 1757;
"WHEN BRAVERY AND LOYALTY
"WERE INSUFFICIENT SECURITIES
"FOR THE LIFE AND HONOUR OF
"A NAVAL OFFICER."
Johnson's most exquisite critical essay in the Literary Magazine, and indeed any where, is his review of Soame Jennings's
"Inquiry into the Origin of Evil."
Jennings was possessed of lively talents, and a style eminently pure and easy, and could very happily play with a light subject, either in prose or verse; but when he speculated on that most difficult and excruciating question, the Origin of Evil, he
"ventured far beyond his depth,"
and, accordingly, was exposed by Johnson, both with acute argument and brilliant wit. I remember when the late Mr. Bicknell's humourous performance, entitled
"The Musical Travels of Joel Collyer,"
in which a slight attempt is made to ridicule Johnson, was ascribed to Soame Jennings,
"Ha! (said Johnson) I thought I had given
him
enough of it."
His triumph over Jennings is thus described by my friend Mr. Courtenay in his
"Poetical Review of the literary and moral Character of Dr. Johnson,"
a performance of such merit, that had I not been honoured with a very kind and partial notice in it, I should echo the sentiments of men of the first taste loudly in its praise:
"When specious sophists with presumption scan
"The source of evil hidden still from man;
"Revive Arabian tales, and vainly hope
"To rival St. John, and his scholar Pope:
"Though metaphysicks spread the gloom of night,
"By reason's star he guides our aching sight;
"The bounds of knowledge marks, and points the way
"To pathless wastes, where wilder'd sages stray;
"Where, like a farthing link-boy, Jennings stands,
"And the dim torch drops from his feeble hands
Some time after Dr. Johnson's death there appeared in the newspapers and magazines an illiberal and petulant attack upon him, in the form of an Epitaph, under the name of Mr. Soame Jennings, very unworthy of that gentleman, who had quietly submitted to the critical lash while Johnson lived. It assumed, as characteristicks of him, all the vulgar circumstances of abuse which had circulated amongst the ignorant. It was an unbecoming indulgence of puny resentment, at a time when he himself was at a very advanced age, and had a near prospect of descending to the grave. I was truly sorry for it; for he was then become an avowed, and (as my Lord Bishop of London, who had a serious conversation with him on the subject, assures me) a sincere Christian. He could not expect that Johnson's numerous friends would patiently bear to have the memory of their master stigmatized by no mean pen, but that at least one would be found to retort. Accordingly, this unjust and sarcastick Epitaph was met in the same publick field by an answer, in terms by no means soft, and such as wanton provocation only could justify:
"EPITAPH,
"Prepared for a creature
not quite dead
yet.
"HERE lies a little ugly nauseous elf,
"Who judging only from its wretched self,
"Feebly attempted, petulant and vain,
"The 'Origin of Evil,' to explain.
"A mighty Genius at this elf displeas'd,
"With a strong critick grasp the urchin squeez'd.
"For thirty years its coward spleen it kept,
"Till in the dust the mighty Genius slept;
"Then stunk and fretted in expiring snuff,
"And blink'd at JOHNSON with its last poor puff."
."
This year Mr. William Payne, brother of the respectable bookseller of that name, published
"An Introduction to the Game of Draughts,"
to which Johnson contributed a Dedication to the Earl of Rochford, * and a Preface, * both of which are admirably adapted to the treatise to which they are prefixed. Johnson, I believe, did not play at draughts after leaving College, by which he suffered, for it would have afforded him an innocent soothing relief from the melancholy which distressed him so often. I have heard him regret that he had not learnt to play at cards; and the game of draughts we know is peculiarly calculated to fix the attention without straining it. There is a composure and gravity in draughts which insensibly tranquillises the mind; and, accordingly, the Dutch are fond of it, as they are of smoaking, of the sedative influence of which, though he himself never smoaked, he had a high opinion
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 48.
. Besides, there is in draughts some exercise of the faculties; and, accordingly, Johnson wishing to dignify the subject in his Dedication with what is most estimable in it, observes,
"Triflers may find or make any thing a trifle; but since it is the great characteristic
of a wise man to see events in their causes, to obviate consequences, and ascertain contingencies, your Lordship will think nothing a trifle by which the mind is inured to caution, foresight, and circumspection."
As one of the little occasional advantages which he did not disdain to take by his pen, as a man whose profession was literature, he this year accepted of a guinea from Mr. Robert Dodsley, for writing the introduction to
"The London Chronicle,"
an evening newspaper; and even in so slight a performance exhibited peculiar talents. This Chronicle still subsists, and from what I observed, when I was abroad, has a more extensive circulation upon the Continent than any of the English newspapers. It was constantly read by Johnson himself; and it is but just to observe, that it has all along been distinguished for good sense, accuracy, moderation, and delicacy.
Another instance of the same nature has been communicated to me by the Reverend Dr. Thomas Campbell, who has done himself considerable credit by his own writings.
"Sitting with Dr. Johnson one morning alone, he asked me if I had known Dr. Madden, who was authour of the premium-scheme in Ireland. On my answering in the affirmative, and also that I had for some years lived in his neighbourhood, &c. he begged of me that when I returned to Ireland, I would endeavour to procure for him a poem of Dr. Madden's, called 'Boulter's Monument.' The reason (said he) why I wish for it, is this: when Dr. Madden came to London, he submitted that work to my castigation; and I remember I blotted a great many lines, and might have blotted many more, without making the poem the worse. However, the Doctor was very thankful, and very generous, for he gave me ten guineas,
which was to me at that time a great sum."
He this year resumed his scheme of giving an edition of Shakspeare with notes. He issued Proposals of considerable length, in which he shewed that he perfectly well knew what a variety of research such an undertaking required; but his indolence prevented him from pursuing it with that diligence which alone can collect those scattered facts that genius, however acute, penetrating, and luminous, cannot discover by its own force. It is remarkable, that at this time his fancied activity was for the moment so vigorous, that he promised his work should be published before Christmas, 1757. Yet nine years elapsed before it saw the light. His throes in bringing it forth had been severe and remittent, and at last we may almost conclude that the Caesarian operation was performed by the knife of Churchill, whose upbraiding satire, I dare say, made Johnson's friends urge him to dispatch.
"He for subscribers bates his hook,
"And takes your cash; but where's the book?
"No matter where; wise fear, you know,
"Forbids the robbing of a foe;
"But what, to serve our private ends,
"Forbids the cheating of our friends?"
About this period he was offered a living of considerable value in Lincolnshire, if he were inclined to enter into holy orders. It was a rectory in the gift of Mr. Langton, the father of his much valued friend. But he did not accept of it; partly I believe from a conscientious motive, being persuaded that his temper and habits rendered him unfit for that assiduous and familiar instruction of the vulgar and ignorant, which he held to be an essential duty in a clergyman; and partly because his love of a London life was so strong, that he would have thought himself an exile in any other place, particularly if residing in the country. Whoever would wish to see his thoughts upon that subject displayed in their full force, may peruse the Adventurer, No. 126.
In 1757 it does not appear that he published any thing, except some of those articles in the Literary Magazine, which have been mentioned. That magazine, after Johnson ceased to write in it, gradually declined, though the popular epithet of
Antigallican
was added to it; and in July 1758 it expired. He probably prepared a part of his Shakspeare this year, and he dictated a speech on the subject of an Address to the Throne, after the expedition to Rochfort, which was delivered by one of his friends, I know not in what publick meeting. It is printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for October 1785 as his, and bears sufficient marks of authenticity.
By the favour of Mr. Walker, of the Treasury, Dublin, I have obtained a copy of the following letter from Johnson to the venerable authour of
"Dissertations on the History of Ireland."
To
CHARLES O'CONOR,
Esq.
SIR,
I HAVE lately, by the favour of Mr. Faulkner, seen your account of Ireland, and cannot forbear to solicit a prosecution of your design. Sir William Temple complains that Ireland is less known than any other country, as to its ancient state. The natives have had little leisure, and little encouragement for enquiry; and strangers, not knowing the language, have had no ability.
I have long wished that the Irish literature were cultivated. Ireland is known by tradition to have been once the seat of piety and learning; and surely it would be very acceptable to all those who are curious either in the original of nations, or the affinities of Languages, to be further informed of the revolutions of a people so ancient, and once so illustrious.
What relation there is between the Welch and Irish languages, or between the language of Ireland and that of Biscay, deserves enquiry. Of these provincial and unextended tongues, it seldom happens that more than one are understood by any one man; and, therefore, it seldom happens that a fair comparison can be made. I hope you will continue to cultivate this kind of learning, which has lain too long neglected, and which, if it be suffered to remain in oblivion for another century, may, perhaps, never be retrieved. As I wish well to all useful undertakings, I would not forbear to let you know how much you deserve, in my opinion, from all lovers of study, and how much pleasure your work has given to, Sir,
Your most obliged And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
Apr. 9, 1755.
To the Reverend Mr.
THOMAS WARTON.
DEAR SIR,
DR. MARSELI of Padua, a learned gentleman, and good Latin poet, has a mind to see Oxford. I have given him a letter to Dr. Huddesford
"Now, or late, Vice-Chancellor."
; and shall be glad if you will introduce him, and shew him any thing in Oxford.
I am printing my new edition of Shakspeare.
I long to see you all, but cannot conveniently come yet. You might write to me now and then, if you were good for any thing. But
honores mutant mores.
Professors forget their friends
"Mr. Warton was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford in the preceding year."
. I shall certainly complain to Miss Jones
"Miss Jones lived at Oxford, and was often of our parties. She was a very ingenious poetess, and published a volume of poems; and, on the whole, was a most sensible, agreeable, and amiable woman. She was sister of the Reverend River Jones, Chanter of Christ Church cathedral at Oxford, and Johnson used to call her the
Chantress.
I have heard him often address her in this passage from 'IL PENSEROSO:'
'Thee, Chantress, oft the woods among
'I woo,' &c.
She died unmarried."
.
I am Your, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
June 21, 1754.
Please to make my compliments to Mr. Wise.
Mr. Burney having enclosed to him an extract from the review of his Dictionary in the
Bibliotheque des Savans
Tom. III. p. 482.
, and a list of subscribers to his Shakspeare, which Mr. Burney had procured in Norfolk, he wrote the following answer:
To Mr.
BURNEY,
in Lynne, Norfolk.
SIR,
THAT I may show myself sensible of your favours, and not commit the same fault a second time, I make haste to answer the letter which I received this morning. The truth is, the other likewise was received, and I wrote an answer; but being desirous to transmit you some proposals and receipts, I waited till I could find a convenient conveyance, and day was passed after day, till other things drove it from my thoughts, yet not so, but that I remember with great pleasure your commendation of my Dictionary. Your praise was welcome, not only because I believe it was sincere, but because praise has been very scarce. A man of your candour will be surprised when I tell you, that among all my acquaintance there were only two, who upon the publication of my book did not endeavour to depress me with threats of censure from the publick, or with objections learned from those who had learned them from my own Preface. Yours is the only letter of good-will that I have received, though, indeed I am promised something of that sort from Sweden.
How my new edition
Of Shakspeare.
will be received I know not; the subscription has not been very successful. I shall publish about March.
If you can direct me how to send proposals, I should wish that they were in such hands.
I remember, Sir, in some of the first letters with which you favoured me, you mentioned your lady. May I enquire after her? In return for the favours which you have shewn me, it is not much to tell you, that I wish you and her all that can conduce to your happiness.
I am, Sir, Your most obliged And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Gough-square,
Dec. 24, 1757.
In 1758 we find him, it should seem, in as easy and pleasant a state of existence, as constitutional unhappiness ever permitted him to enjoy.
To Mr.
BURNEY,
at Lynne, Norfolk.
SIR,
YOUR kindness is so great, and my claim to any particular regard from you so little, that I am at a loss how to express my sense of your favours
This letter was an answer to one in which was enclosed a draft for the payment of some subscriptions to his Shakspeare.
; but I am, indeed, much pleased to be thus distinguished by you.
I am ashamed to tell you that my Shakspeare will not be out so soon as I promised my subscribers; but I did not promise them more than I promised myself. It will, however, be published before summer.
I have sent you a bundle of proposals, which, I think, do not profess more than I have hitherto performed. I have printed many of the plays, and have hitherto left very few passages unexplained; where I am quite at a loss, I confess my ignorance, which is seldom done by commentators.
I have, likewise, inclosed twelve receipts; not that I mean to impose upon you the trouble of pushing them with more importunity than may seem proper, but that you may rather have more than fewer than you shall want. The proposals you will disseminate as there shall be opportunity. I once printed them at length in the Chronicle, and some of my friends (I believe
Mr. Murphy, who formerly wrote the Gray's-Inn Journal) introduced them with a splendid encomium.
Since the Life of Browne, I have been a little engaged, from time to time, in the Literary Magazine, but not very lately. I have not the collection by me, and therefore cannot draw out a catalogue of my own parts, but will do it, and send it. Do not buy them, for I will gather all those that have any thing of mine in them, and send them to Mrs. Burney, as a small token of gratitude for the regard which she is pleased to bestow upon me. I am, Sir,
Your most obliged And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
March 8, 1758.
Dr. Burney has kindly favoured me with the following memorandum, which I take the liberty to insert in his own genuine easy style. I love to exhibit sketches of my illustrious friend by various eminent hands.
"Soon after this, Mr. Burney, during a visit to the capital, had an interview with him in Gough-square, where he dined and drank tea with him, and was introduced to the acquaintance of Mrs. Williams. After dinner, Mr. Johnson proposed to Mr. Burney to go up with him into his garret, which being accepted, he there found about five or six Greek folios, a deal writingdesk, and a chair and a half. Johnson giving to his guest the entire seat, tottered himself on one with only three legs and one arm. Here he gave Mr. Burney Mrs. Williams's history, and shewed him some volumes of his Shakspeare already printed, to prove that he was in earnest. Upon Mr. Burney's opening the first volume, at the Merchant of Venice, he observed to him, that he seemed to be more severe on Warburton than Theobald. 'O poor Tib.! (said Johnson) he was ready knocked down to my hands; Warburton stands between me and him.' 'But, Sir, (said Mr. Burney,) you'll have Warburton upon your bones, won't you?' 'No, Sir; he'll not come out: he'll only growl in his den.' 'But you think, Sir, that Warburton is a superiour critick to Theobald?'—'O, Sir, he'd make two-and-fifty Theobalds, cut into slices! The worst of Warburton is, that he has a rage for saying something, when there's nothing to be said.'—Mr. Burney then asked him whether he had seen the letter which Warburton had written in answer to a pamphlet addressed 'To the most impudent Man alive.' He answered in the negative. Mr. Burney told him it was supposed to be written by Mallet. The controversy now raged between the friends of Pope and Bolingbroke; and Warburton and Mallet were the leaders of the several parties. Mr. Burney asked him then if he had seen Warburton's book against Bolingbroke's Philosophy? 'No, Sir; I have never read Bolingbroke's impiety, and therefore am not interested about its confutation."
On the fifteenth of April he began a new periodical paper, entitled
"THE IDLER, *"
which came out every Saturday in a weekly newspaper, called
"The Universal Chronicle, or Weekly Gazette,"
published by Newberry. These essays were continued till April 5, 1760. Of one hundred and three, their total number, twelve were contributed by his friends; of which, Numbers 33, 93, and 96, were written by Mr. Thomas Warton; No. 67 by Mr. Langton; and No. 76, 79, and 82 by Sir Joshua Reynolds; the concluding words of No. 82,
"and pollute his canvas with deformity,"
being added by Johnson, as Sir Joshua informed me.
The IDLER is evidently the work of the same mind which produced the RAMBLER, but has less body, and more spirit. It has more variety of real life, and greater facility of language. He describes the miseries of idleness, with the lively sensations of one who had felt them; and in his private memorandums while engaged in it, we find
"This year I hope to learn diligence
Prayers and Meditations, p. 30.
."
Many of these excellent essays were written as hastily as an ordinary letter. Mr. Langton remembers Johnson, when on a visit at Oxford, asking him one evening how long it was till the post went out; and on being told about half an hour, he exclaimed,
"then we shall do very well."
He upon this instantly fat down and finished an Idler, which it was necessary should be in London the next day. Mr. Langton having signified a wish to read it,
"Sir, (said he) you shall not do more than I have done myself."
He then folded it up, and sent it off.
Yet there are in the Idler several papers which shew as much profundity of thought, and
our of language, as any of this great man's writings. No. 14,
"Robbery of time;"
No. 24,
"Thinking;"
No. 41,
"Death of a friend;"
No. 43,
"Flight of time;"
No. 51,
"Domestick greatness unattainable;"
No. 52,
"Self-denial;"
No. 58,
"Actual, how short of fancied excellence;"
No. 89,
"Physical evil moral good;"
and his concluding paper on
"The horrour of the last,"
will prove this assertion. I know not why a motto, the usual trapping of periodical papers, is prefixed to very few of the Idlers, as I have heard Johnson commend the custom; and he never could be at a loss for one, his memory being stored with innumerable passages of the classicks. In this series of essays he exhibits admirable instances of grave humour, of which he had an uncommon share. Nor on some occasions has he repressed that power of sophistry which he possessed in so eminent a degree. In No. 11, he treats with the utmost contempt the opinion that our mental f
culties depend, in some degree, upon the weather; an opinion, which they who have never experienced its truth are not to be envied, and of which he himself could not but be sensible, as the effects of weather upon him were very visible. Yet thus he declaims:
"Surely, nothing is more reproachful to a being endowed with reason, than to resign its powers to the influence of the air, and live in dependance on the weather and the wind for the only blessings which Nature has put into our power, tranquillity and benevolence.—This distinction of seasons is produced only by imagination operating on luxury. To temperance, every day is bright; and every hour is propitious to diligence. He that shall resolutely excite his faculties, or exert his virtues, will soon make himself superiour to the seasons; and may set at defiance the morning mist and the evening damp, the blasts of the east, and the clouds of the south."
Alas! it is too certain, that where the frame has delicate fibres, and there is a fine sensibility, such influences of the air are irresistible. He might as well have bid defiance to the ague, the palsy, and all other bodily disorders. Such boasting of the force of mind is false elevation.
"I think the Romans call it Stoicism."
But in this number of his Idler his spirits seem to run riot; for in the wantonness of his disquisition he forgets, for a moment, even the reverence for that which he held in high respect; and describes
"the attendant on a
Court,"
as one
"whose business is to watch the looks of a being, weak and foolish as himself."
His unqualified ridicule of rhetorical gesture or action is not, surely, a test of truth; yet we cannot help admiring how well it is adapted to produce the effect which he wished.
"Neither the judges of our laws, nor the representatives of our people, would be much affected by laboured gesticulation, or believe any man the more because he rolled his eyes, or puffed his cheeks, or spread abroad his arms, or stamped the ground, or thumped his breast, or turned his eyes sometimes to the cieling, and sometimes to the floor."
A casual coincidence with other writers, or an adoption of a sentiment or image which has been found in the writings of another, and afterwards appears in the mind as one's own, is not unfrequent. The richness of Johnson's fancy, which could supply his page abundantly on all occasions, and the strength of his memory, which at once detected the real owner of any thought, made him less liable to the imputation of plagiarism than, perhaps, any of our writers. In the Idler, however, there is a paper, in which conversation is assimilated to a bowl of punch, where there is the same train of comparison as in a poem by Blacklock, in his collection published in 1756; in which a parallel is ingeniously drawn between human life and that liquor. It ends,
"Say then, physicians of each kind,
"Who cure the body or the mind,
"What harm in drinking can there be,
"Since punch and life so well agree?"
To the Idler, when collected in volumes, he added (beside the Essay on Epitaphs, and the Dissertation on those of Pope,) an Essay on the Bravery of the English common Soldiers.
To the Reverend Mr.
THOMAS WARTON.
DEAR SIR,
YOUR notes upon my poet were very acceptable. I beg that you will be so kind as to continue your searches. It will be reputable to my work, and suitable to your professorship, to have something of yours in the notes. As you have given no directions about your name, I shall therefore put it. I wish your brother would take the same trouble. A commentary must arise from the fortuitous discoveries of many men in devious walks of literature. Some of your remarks are on plays already printed: but I purpose to add an Appendix of Notes, so that nothing comes too late.
You give yourself too much uneasiness, dear Sir, about the loss of the papers
"Receipts for Shakspeare."
. The loss is nothing, if nobody has found them; nor even then, perhaps, if the numbers be known. You are not the only friend that has had the same mischance. You may repair your want out of a stock, which is deposited with Mr. Allen, of Magdalen-Hall; or out of a parcel which I have just sent to Mr. Chambers
"Then of Lincoln College. Now Sir Robert Chambers, one of the Judges in India."
, for the use of any body that will be so kind as to want them. Mr. Langtons are well; and Miss Roberts, whom I have at last brought to speak, upon the information which you gave me, that she had something to say.
I am, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
April 14, 1758.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
YOU will receive this by Mr. Baretti, a gentleman particularly intitled to the notice and kindness of the professor of poesy. He has time but for a short stay, and will be glad to have it filled up with as much as he can hear and see.
In recommending another to your favour, I ought not to omit thanks for the kindness which you have shewn to myself. Have you any more notes on Shakspeare? I shall be glad of them.
I see your pupil
"Mr. Langton."
sometimes; his mind is as exalted as his stature. I am half afraid of him; but he is no less amiable than formidable. He will, if the forwardness of his spring be not blasted, be a credit to you, and to the University. He brings some of my plays
"Part of the impression of the Shakspeare, which Dr. Johnson conducted alone, and published by subscription. This edition came out in 1765."
with him, which he has my permission to shew you, on condition you will hide them from every body else.
I am, dear Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
[London,]
June 1, 1758.
In 1759, in the month of January, his mother died, at the great age of ninety, an event which deeply affected him, not that
"his mind had acquired no firmness by the contemplation of mortality
Hawkins's Life of Johnson, p. 365.
,"
but that his reverential affection for her was not abated by years, as indeed he retained all his tender feelings even to the latest period of his life. I have been told that he regretted much his not having gone to visit his mother for several years previous to her death. But he was constantly engaged in literary labours, which confined him to London; and though he had not the comfort of seeing his aged parent, he contributed liberally to her support.
Soon after this event, he wrote his
"RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA; *"
concerning the publication of which Sir John Hawkins guesses vaguely and idly, instead of having taken the trouble to inform himself with authentick precision. Not to trouble my readers with a repetition of the Knight's reveries, I have to mention, that the late Mr. Strahan the printer told me, that Johnson wrote it, that with the profits he might defray the expence of his mother's
funeral, and pay some little debts which she had left. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds that he composed it in the evenings of one week, sent it to the press in portions as it was written, and had never since read it over. Mr. Strahan, Mr. Johnston, and Mr. Dodsley purchased it for a hundred pounds, but afterwards paid him twenty-five pounds more when it came to a second edition.
Considering the large sums which have been received for compilations, and works requiring not much more genius than compilations, we cannot but wonder at the very low price which he was content to receive for this admirable performance, which, though he had written nothing else, would have rendered his name immortal in the world of literature. None of his writings has been so extensively diffused over Europe; for it has been translated into most, if not all, of the modern languages. This Tale, with all the charms of oriental imagery, and all the force and beauty of which the English language is capable, leads us through the most important scenes of human life, and shews us that this stage of our being is full of
"vanity and vexation of spirit."
To those who look no further than the present life, or who maintain that human nature has not fallen from the state in which it was created, the instruction of this sublime story will be of no avail. But they who think justly, and feel with strong sensibility, will listen with eagerness and admiration to its truth and wisdom. Voltaire's CANDIDE, written to refute the system of Optimism, which it has accomplished with brilliant success, is wonderfully similar in its plan and conduct to Johnson's RASSELAS; insomuch, that I have heard Johnson say, that if they had not been published so closely one after the other that there was not time for imitation, it would have been in vain to deny that the scheme of that which came latest was taken from the other. Though the proposition illustrated by both these works was the same, namely, that in our present state there is more evil than good, the intention of the writers was very different. Voltaire, I am afraid, meant only by wanton profaneness to obtain a sportive victory over religion, and to discredit the belief of a superintending Providence: Johnson meant, by shewing the unsatisfactory nature of things temporal, to direct the hopes of man to things eternal. Rasselas, as was observed to me by a very accomplished lady, may be considered as a more enlarged and more deeply philosophical discourse in prose, upon the interesting truth, which in his
"Vanity of human Wishes"
he had so successfully enforced in verse.
The fund of thinking which this work contains is such, that almost every sentence of it may furnish a subject of long meditation. I am not satisfied if a year passes without my having read it through; and at every perusal, my admiration of the mind which produced it is so highly raised, that I can scarcely believe that I had the honour of enjoying the intimacy of such a man.
I restrain myself from quoting passages from this excellent work, or even referring to them, because I should not know what to select, or, rather, what to omit. I shall, however, transcribe one, as it shews how well he could state the arguments of those who believe in the appearance of departed spirits, a doctrine which it is a mistake to suppose that he himself ever positively held.
If all your fear be of apparitions, (said the Prince,) I will promise you safety: there is no danger from the dead; he that is once buried will be seen no more.
That the dead are seen no more (said Imlac,) I will not undertake to maintain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages, and of all nations. There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth; those that never heard of one another, would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can make credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers, can very little weaken the general evidence; and some who deny it with their tongues, confess it by their fears.
Notwithstanding the high admiration of Rasselas, I will not maintain that the
"morbid melancholy"
in Johnson's constitution may not, perhaps, have made life appear to him more insipid and unhappy than it generally is; for I am sure that he had less enjoyment from it than I have. Yet, whatever additional shade his own particular sensations may have thrown on his representation of life, attentive observation and close inquiry have convinced me, that there is too much of reality in the gloomy picture. The truth, however, is, that we judge of the happiness and misery of life differently at different times, according to the state of our changeable frame. I always remember a remark made to me by a Turkish lady, educated in France,
"Ma foi, Monsieur, notre bonheur depend du façon que notre sang circule."
This have I learnt from a pretty hard course of experience, and would, from sincere benevolence, impress upon all who honour this book with a perusal, that until a steady conviction is obtained, that the present life is an imperfect state, and only a passage to a better, if we comply with the divine scheme of progressive improvement; and also that it is a part of the mysterious plan of Providence, that intellectual beings must
"be made perfect through suffering;"
there will be a continual recurrence of disappointment and uneasiness. But if we walk with hope in
"the mid-day sun"
of revelation, our temper and disposition will be such, that the comforts and enjoyments in our way will be relished, while we patiently support the inconveniencies and pains. After much speculation and various reasonings, I acknowledge myself convinced of the truth of Voltaire's conclusion,
"Apres tout c'est un monde passable."
But we must not think too deeply:
"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise,"
is, in many respects, more than poetically just. Let us cultivate, under the command of good principles,
"La theorie des sensations agréables;"
and, as Mr. Burke once admirably counselled a grave and anxious gentleman,
"live pleasant."
The effect of Rasselas, and of Johnson's other moral tales, is thus beautifully illustrated by Mr. Courtenay:
"Impressive truth, in splendid fiction drest,
"Checks the vain wish, and calms the troubled breast;
"O'er the dark mind a light celestial throws,
"And sooths the angry passions to repose;
"As oil effus'd illumes and smooths the deep,
"When round the bark the swelling surges sweep
Literary and moral Character of Dr. Johnson.
."
It will be recollected, that during all this year he carried on his IDLER
This paper was in such high estimation before it was collected into volumes, that it was seized on with avidity by various publishers of newspapers and magazines, to enrich their publications. Johnson, to put a stop to this unfair proceeding, wrote for the Universal Chronicle the following advertisement, in which there is, perhaps, more pomp of words than the occasion demanded:
"London, January 5, 1759. Advertisement. The proprietors of the paper entitled 'The Idler,' having found that those essays are inserted in the newspapers and magazines with so little regard to justice or decency, that the Universal Chronicle, in which they first appear, is not always mentioned, think it necessary to declare to the publishers of those collections, that however patiently they have hitherto endured these injuries, made yet more injurious by contempt, they have now determined to endure them no longer. They have already seen essays, for which a very large price is paid, transferred, with the most shameless rapacity, into the weekly or monthly compilations, and their right, at least for the present, alienated from them, before they could themselves be said to enjoy it. But they would not willingly be thought to want tenderness, even for men by whom no tenderness hath been shewn. The past is without remedy, and shall be without resentment. But those who have been thus busy with their sickles in the fields of their neighbours, are henceforward to take notice, that the time of impunity is at an end. Whoever shall, without our leave, lay the hand of rapine upon our papers, is to expect that we shall vindicate our due, by the means which justice prescribes, and which are warranted by the immemorial prescriptions of honourable trade. We shall lay hold, in our turn, on their copies, degrade them from thepomp of wide margin and diffuse typography, contract them into a narrow space, and sell them at an humble price; yet not with a view of growing rich by confiscations, for we think not much better of money got by punishment than by crimes. We shall, therefore, when our losses are repaid, give what profit shall remain to the
Magdalens;
for we know not who can be more properly taxed for the support of penitent prostitutes, than prostitutes in whom there yet appears neither penitence nor shame."
, and, no doubt, was proceeding, though slowly, in his edition of Shakspeare. He, however, from that liberality which never failed, when called upon to assist other labourers in literature, found time to translate for Mrs. Lennox's English version of Brumoy,
"A Dissertation on the Greek Comedy, †"
and the General Conclusion of the book. †
I would ascribe to this year the following letter to a son of one of his early friends at Lichfield, Mr. Joseph Simpson, Barrister and authour of a tract entitled
"Reflections on the Study of the Law."
To
JOSEPH SIMPSON,
Esq▪
DEAR SIR,
YOUR father's inexorability not only grieves but amazes me: he is your father: he was always accounted a wise man; nor do I remember any thing to the disadvantage of his good nature; but in his refusal to assist you there is neither good-nature, fatherhood, nor wisdom. It is the practice of good-nature to overlook faults which have already, by the consequences, punished the delinquent. It is natural for a father to think more favourably than others of his children; and it is always wife to give assistance while a little help will prevent the necessity of greater.
If you married imprudently, you miscarried at your own hazard, at an age when you had a right of choice. It would be hard if the man might not choose his own wife, who has a right to plead before the Judges of his country.
If your imprudence has ended in difficulties and inconveniences, you are yourself to support them; and, with the help of a little better health, you would support them and conquer them. Surely, that want which accident and sickness produces, is to be supported in every region of humanity, though there were neither friends nor fathers in the world. You have certainly from your father the highest claim of charity, though none of right; and therefore I would counsel you to omit no decent nor manly degree of importunity. Your debts in the whole are not large, and of the whole but a small part is troublesome. Small debts are like small shot; they are rattling on every side, and can scarcely be escaped without a wound: great debts are like cannon; of loud noise, but little danger. You must, therefore, be enabled to discharge petty debts, that you may have leisure, with security, to struggle with the rest. Neither the great nor little debts disgrace you. I am sure you have my esteem for the courage with which you contracted them, and the spirit with which you endure them. I wish my esteem could be of more use. I have been invited, or have invited myself, to several parts of the kingdom; and will not incommode my dear Lucy by coming to Lichfield, while her present lodging is of any use to her. I hope in a few days to be at leisure, and to make visits. Whither I shall fly is matter of no importance. A man unconnected is at home every where; unless he may be said to be at home no where. I am sorry, dear Sir, that where you have parents, a man of your merits should not have an home. I wish I could give it you. I am, my dear Sir,
Affectionately your's, SAM. JOHNSON.
He now refreshed himself by an excursion to Oxford, of which the following short characteristical notice, in his own words, is preserved:
"* * * is now making tea for me. I have been in my gown ever since I came here. It was at my first coming quite new and handsome. I have swum thrice, which I had disused for many years. I have proposed to Vansittart
Dr. Robert Vansittart, of the ancient and respectable family of that name in Berkshire. He was eminent for learning and worth, and much esteemed by Dr. Johnson.
climbing over the wall, but he has refused me. And I have clapped my hands till they are sore, at Dr. King's speech
Gentleman's Magazine, April 1785.
."
His negro servant, Francis Barber, having left him, and been some time at sea, not pressed as has been supposed, but with his own consent, it appears from a letter to John Wilkes, Esq. from Dr. Smollet, that his master kindly interested himself in procuring his release from a state of life of which Johnson always expressed the utmost abhorrence. He said,
"No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 126.
."
And at another time,
"A man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company
Ibid. p. 251.
."
The letter was as follows:
DEAR SIR,
Chelsea,
March 16, 1759.
I AM again your petitioner, in behalf of that great chum
Had Dr. Smollet been bred at an English University, he would have known that a
chum
is a student who lives with another in a chamber common to them both. A
chum of literature
is nonsense.
of literature Samuel Johnson. His black servant, whose name is Francis Barber, has been pressed on board the Stag Frigate, Captain Angel, and our lexicographer is in great distress. He says the boy is a sickly lad, of a delicate frame, and particularly subject to a malady in his throat, which renders him very unfit for his Majesty's service. You know what matter of animosity the said Johnson has against you; and I dare say you desire no other opportunity of resenting it than that of laying him under an obligation. He was humble enough to desire my assistance on this occasion, though he and I were never cater-cousins; and I gave him to understand that I would make application to my friend Mr. Wilkes, who, perhaps, by his interest with Dr. Hay and Mr. Elliott, might be able to procure the discharge of his lacquey. It would be superfluous to say more on the subject, which I leave to your own consideration; but I cannot let slip this opportunity of declaring that I am, with the most inviolable esteem and attachment, dear Sir,
Your affectionate obliged humble servant, T. SMOLLET.
Mr. Wilkes, who upon all occasions has acted, as a private gentleman, with most polite liberality, applied to his friend Sir George Hay, then one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty; and Francis Barber was discharged, as he has told me, without any wish of his own. He recollects the precise time to be three days before King George II. died. He found his old master in chambers in the Inner Temple, and returned to his service.
What particular new scheme of life Johnson had in view this year, I have not discovered; but that he meditated one of some sort, is clear from his private devotions, in which we find
Prayers and Meditations, p. 30 and 40.
,
"the change of outward things which I am now to make;"
and,
"Grant me the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that the course which I am now beginning may proceed according to thy laws, and end in the enjoyment of thy favour."
But he did not, in fact, make any external or visible change.
At this time there being a competition among the architects of London to be employed in the building of Blackfriars-bridge, a question was very warmly agitated whether semicircular or elliptical arches were preferable. In the design offered by Mr. Mylne the elliptical form was adopted, and therefore it was the great object of his rivals to attack it. Johnson's regard for his friend Mr. Gwyn induced him to engage in this controversy against Mr. Mylne
Sir John Hawkins has given a long detail of it, in that manner vulgarly, but significantly, called
rigmarole;
in which, amidst an ostentatious exhibition of arts and artists, he talks of
"proportions of a column being taken from that of the human figure, and
adjusted by Nature
—masculine and feminine—in a man,
sesquioctave
of the head, and in a woman
sesquinonal;"
nor has he failed to introduce a jargon of musical terms, which do not seem much to correspond with the subject, but serve to make up the heterogeneous mass. To follow the Knight through all this, would be an useless fatigue to myself, and not a little disgusting to my readers. I shall, therefore, only make a few remarks upon his statement.—He seems to exult in having detected Johnson in procuring
"from a person eminently skilled in mathematicks and the principles of architecture, answers to a string of questions drawn up by himself, touching the comparative strength of semicircular and elliptical arches."
Now I cannot conceive how Johnson could have acted more wisely. Sir John complains that the opinion of that excellent mathematician, Mr. Thomas Simpson, did not preponderate in favour of the semicircular arch. But he should have known, that however eminent Mr. Simpson was in the higher parts of abstract mathematical science, he was little versed in mixed and practical mechanicks. Mr. Muller, of Woolwich Academy, the scholastick father of all the great engineers which this country has employed for forty years, decided the question by declaring clearly in favour of the elliptical arch.
It is ungraciously suggested, that Johnson's motive for opposing Mr. Mylne's scheme may have been his prejudice against him as a native of North-Britain; when, in truth, as has been stated, he gave the aid of his able pen to a friend, who was one of the candidates; and so far was he from having any illiberal antipathy to Mr. Mylne, that he afterwards lived with that gentleman upon very agreeable terms of acquaintance, and dined with him at his house. Sir John Hawkins, indeed, gives full vent to his own prejudice in abusing Blackfriars-bridge, calling it
"an edifice, in which beauty and symmetry are in vain sought for; by which the citizens of London have perpetuated their own disgrace, and subjected a whole nation to the reproach of foreigners."
Whoever has contemplated,
placido lumine,
this stately, elegant, and airy structure, which has so fine an effect, especially on approaching the capital on that quarter, must wonder at such unjust and ill-tempered censure; and I appeal to all foreigners of good taste, whether this bridge be not one of the most distinguished ornaments of London. As to the stability of the fabrick, it is certain that the City of London took every precaution to have the best Portland stone for it; but as this is to be found in the quarries belonging to the publick, under the direction of the Lords of the Treasury, it so happened that parliamentary interest, which is often the bane of fair pursuits, thwarted their endeavours. Notwithstanding this disadvantage, it is well known that not only has Blackfriars-bridge never sunk either in its foundations or in its arches, which were so much the subject of contest, but any injuries which it has suffered from the effects of severe frosts have been already, in some measure, repaired with sounder stone, and every necessary renewal can be completed at a moderate expence.
; and after being at considerable pains to study the subject, he wrote three several letters in the Gazetteer, in opposition to his plan.
If it should be remarked that this was a controversy which lay quite out of Johnson's way, let it be remembered that after all, his employing his powers of reasoning and eloquence upon a subject which he had studied on the moment, is not more strange than what we often observe in lawyers, who, as
Quicquid agunt homines
is the matter of law-suits, are sometimes obliged to pick up a temporary knowledge of an art or science, of which they understood nothing till their brief was delivered, and appear to be much masters of it. In like manner, members of the legislature frequently introduce and expatiate upon subjects of which they have informed themselves for the occasion.
In 1760 he wrote
"An Address of the Painters to George III. on his Accession to the Throne of these Kingdoms, †"
which no monarch ever ascended with more sincere congratulations from his people. Two generations of foreign princes had prepared their minds to rejoice in having again a King, who gloried in being
"born a Briton."
He also wrote for Mr. Baretti the Dedication † of his Italian and English Dictionary, to the Marquis of Abreu, then Ambassadour Extraordinary from Spain at the Court of Great-Britain.
Johnson was now either very idle, or very busy with his Shakspeare; for I can find no other publick composition by him except an account which he gave in the Gentleman's Magazine of Mr. Tytler's acute and able vindication of Mary Queen of Scots. * The generosity of Johnson's feelings shines forth in the following sentence:
"It has now been fashionable, for near half a century, to defame and vilify the house of Stuart, and to exalt and magnify the reign of Elizabeth. The Stuarts have found few apologists; for the dead cannot pay for praise, and who will, without reward, oppose the tide of popularity? Yet there remains still among us, not wholly extinguished, a zeal for truth, a desire of establishing right in opposition to fashion."
In this year I have not discovered a single private letter written by him to any of his friends. It should seem, however, that he had at this period a floating intention of writing a history of the recent and wonderful successes of the British arms in all quarters of the globe; for among his resolutions or memorandums, September 18, there is,
"Send for books for Hist. of War
Prayers and Meditations, p. 42.
."
How much is it to be regretted that this intention was not fulfilled. His majestick expression would have carried down to the latest posterity the glorious achievements of his country, with the same servent glow which they produced
on the mind at the time. He would have been under no temptation to deviate in any degree from truth, which he held very sacred, or to take a licence which a learned divine told me he once seemed, in a conversation, jocularly to allow to historians.
"There are (said he) inexcusable lies, and consecrated lies. For instance, we are told that on the arrival of the news of the unfortunate battle of Fontenoy, every heart beat, and every eye was in tears. Now we know that no man eat his dinner the worse, but there
should
have been all this concern; and to say there
was,
(smiling) may be reckoned a consecrated lie."
This year Mr. Murphy having thought himself ill treated by the Reverend Dr. Francklin, who was one of the writers of
"The Critical Review,"
published an indignant vindication in
"A Poetical Epistle to Samuel Johnson, A. M."
in which he compliments Johnson in a just and elegant manner:
"Transcendant Genius, whose prolifick vein
"Ne'er knew the frigid poet's toil and pain;
"To whom APOLLO opens all his store,
"And every Muse presents her sacred lore;
"Say, pow'rful JOHNSON, whence thy verse is fraught
"With so much grace, such energy of thought;
"Whether thy JUVENAL instructs the age
"In chaster numbers, and new-points his rage;
"Or fair IRENE sees, alas! too late
"Her innocence exchang'd for guilty state;
"Whate'er you write, in every golden line
"Sublimity and elegance combine;
"Thy nervous phrase impresses every soul,
"While harmony gives rapture to the whole."
Again, towards the conclusion:
"Thou then, my friend, who see'st the dang'rous strife
"In which some daemon bids me plunge my life,
"To the Aonian fount direct my feet,
"Say where the Nine thy lonely musings meet?
"Where warbles to thy ear the sacred throng,
"Thy moral sense, thy dignity of song?
"Tell, for you can, by what unerring art
"You wake to finer feelings every heart;
"In each bright page some truth important give,
"And bid to future times thy RAMBLER live."
I take this opportunity to relate the manner in which an acquaintance first commenced between Dr. Johnson and Mr. Murphy. During the publication of
"The Gray's-Inn Journal,"
a periodical paper which was successfully carried on by Mr. Murphy alone, when a very young man, he happened to be in the country with Mr. Foote; and having mentioned that he was obliged to go to London in order to get ready for the press one of the numbers of that Journal, Foote said to him,
"You need not go on that account. Here is a French magazine, in which you will find a very pretty oriental tale; translate that, and send it to your printer."
Mr. Murphy having read the tale, was highly pleased with it, and followed Foote's advice. When he returned to town, this tale was pointed out to him in the Rambler, from whence it had been translated into the French magazine. Mr. Murphy then waited upon Johnson, to explain this curious incident. His talents, literature, and gentleman-like manners, were soon perceived by Johnson, and a friendship was formed which was never broken.
Johnson, who was ever awake to the calls of humanity, wrote this year an Introduction* to the proceedings of the Committee for cloathing the French prisoners.
In 1761 Johnson appears to have done little. He was still, no doubt, proceeding in his edition of Shakspeare; but what advances he made in it cannot be ascertained. He certainly was at this time not active; for in his scrupulous examination of himself on Easter eve, he laments, in his too rigorous mode of censuring his own conduct, that his life, since the communion of the preceding Easter, had been
"dissipated and useless
Prayers and Meditations, p. 44.
."
He, however, contributed this year the Preface* to
"Rolt's Dictionary of Trade and Commerce,"
in which he displays such a clear and comprehensive knowledge of the subject, as might lead the reader to think that its authour had devoted all his life to it. I asked him, whether he knew much of Rolt, and of his work.
"Sir, (said he) I never saw the man, and never read the book. The booksellers wanted a Preface to a Dictionary of Trade and Commerce. I knew very well what such a Dictionary should be, and I wrote a Preface accordingly."
Rolt, who wrote a great deal for the booksellers, particularly a History of the War, on which, as we have seen, Johnson himself once had thoughts of employing his pen, was, as Johnson told me, a singular character. Though not in the least acquainted with him, he used to say,
"I am just come from Sam. Johnson."
This was a sufficient specimen of his vanity and impudence. But he gave a more eminent proof of it in our sister kingdom,▪ as Dr. Johnson informed me. When
Akenside's
"Pleasures of the Imagination"
first came out, he did not put his name to the poem. Rolt went over to Dublin, published an edition of it, and put his own name to it. Upon the fame of this he lived for several months, being entertained at the best tables as
"the ingenious Mr. Rolt."
His conversation, indeed, did not discover much of the fire of a poet; but it was recollected, that both Addison and Thomson were equally dull till excited by wine. Akenside having been informed of this imposition, vindicated his right by publishing the poem with its real authour's name. Several instances of such literary fraud have been detected. The Reverend Dr. Campbell, of St. Andrew's, wrote a book on the authenticity of the Gospel History, the manuscript of which he sent to Mr. Innys, a clergyman in England, who was his countryman and acquaintance. Innys published it with his own name to it; and before the imposition was discovered, obtained considerable promotion, as a reward of his merit. The celebrated Dr. Hugh Blair, and his cousin Mr. George Ballantine, when students in divinity, wrote a poem, entitled
"Redemption,"
copies of which were handed about in manuscript. They were, at length, very much surprized to see a pompous edition of it in folio, dedicated to the Queen, by a Dr. Douglas, as his own. Some years ago a little novel, entitled
"The Man of Feeling,"
was assumed by Mr. Eccles, a young Irish clergyman, who was afterwards drowned near Bath. He had been at the pains to transcribe the whole book, with blottings, interlineations, and corrections, that it might be shewn to several people as an original. It was, in truth, the production of Mr. Henry Mackenzie, an attorney in the Exchequer at Edinburgh, who is the authour of several other ingenious pieces; but the belief with regard to Mr. Eccles became so general, that it was thought necessary for Messieurs Strahan and Cadell to publish an advertisement in the newspapers, contradicting the report, and mentioning that they purchased the copy right of Mr. Mackenzie. I can conceive this kind of fraud to be very easily practised with successful effrontery. The
filiation
of a literary performance is difficult of proof; seldom is there any witness present at its birth. A man, either in confidence or by improper means, obtains possession of a copy of it in manuscript, and boldly publishes it as his own. The true authour, in many cases, may not be able to make his title clear. Johnson, indeed, from the peculiar features of his literary offspring, might bid defiance to any attempt to appropriate them to others:
"But Shakspeare's magick could not copied be,
"Within that circle none durst walk but he."
He this year lent his friendly assistance to correct and improve a pamphlet written by Mr. Gwyn, the architect, entitled
"Thoughts on the Coronation of George III."
Johnson had now for some years admitted Mr. Baretti to his intimacy; nor did their friendship cease upon their being separated by Baretti's revisiting his native country, as appears from Johnson's letters to him.
To Mr.
JOSEPH BARETTI,
at Milan.
YOU reproach me very often with parsimony of writing: but you may discover by the extent of my paper, that I design to recompence rarity by length. A short letter to a distant friend is, in my opinion, an insult like that of a slight bow or cursory salutation;—a proof of unwillingness to do much, even where there is a necessity of doing something. Yet it must be remembered, that he who continues the same course of life in the same place, will have little to tell. One week and one year are very like another. The silent changes made by time are not always perceived; and if they are not perceived, cannot be recounted. I have risen and laid down, talked and mused, while you have roved over a considerable part of Europe: yet I have not envied my Baretti any of his pleasures, though, perhaps, I have envied others his company; and I am glad to have other nations made acquainted with the character of the English, by a traveller who has so nicely inspected our manners, and so successfully studied our literature. I received your kind letter from Falmouth, in which you gave me notice of your departure for Lisbon; and another from Lisbon, in which you told me, that you were to leave Portugal in a few days. To either of these how could any answer be returned? I have had a third from Turin, complaining that I have not answered the former. Your English style still continues in its purity and vigour. With vigour your genius will supply it; but its purity must be continued by close attention. To use two languages familiarly, and without contaminating one by the other, is very difficult; and to use more than two, is hardly to be hoped. The praises which some have received for their multiplicity of languages, may be sufficient to excite industry, but can hardly generate confidence.
I know not whether I can heartily rejoice at the kind reception which you have found, or at the popularity to which you are exalted. I am willing that your merit should be distinguished; but cannot wish that your affections may be gained. I would have you happy wherever you are: yet I would have you wish to return to England. If ever you visit us again, you will find the kindness of your friends undiminished. To tell you how many enquiries are made after you, would be tedious, or if not tedious, would be vain; because you may be told in a very few words, that all who knew you wish you well; and all that you embraced at your departure, will caress you at your return: therefore do not let Italian academicians nor Italian ladies drive us from your thoughts. You may find among us what you will leave behind, soft smiles and easy sonnets. Yet I shall not wonder if all our invitations should be rejected: for there is a pleasure in being considerable at home, which is not easily resisted.
By conducting Mr. Southwell to Venice, you fulfilled, I know, the original contract: yet I would wish you not wholly to lose him from your notice, but to recommend him to such acquaintance as may best secure him from suffering by his own follies, and to take such general care both of his safety and his interest as may come within your power. His relations will thank you for any such gratuitous attention: at least they will not blame you for any evil that may happen, whether they thank you or not for any good.
You know that we have a new King and a new Parliament. Of the new Parliament Fitzherbert is a member. We were so weary of our old King, that we are much pleased with his successor; of whom we are so much inclined to hope great things, that most of us begin already to believe them. The young man is hitherto blameless; but it would be unreasonable to expect much from the immaturity of juvenile years, and the ignorance of princely education. He has been long in the hands of the Scots, and has already favoured them more than the English will contentedly endure. But, perhaps, he scarcely knows whom he has distinguished, or whom he has disgusted.
The Artists have instituted a yearly exhibition of pictures and statues, in imitation, as I am told, of foreign Academies. This year was the second exhibition. They please themselves much with the multitude of spectators, and imagine that the English school will rise in reputation. Reynolds is without a rival, and continues to add thousands to thousands, which he deserves, among other excellencies, by retaining his kindness for Baretti. This exhibition has filled the heads of the Artists and lovers of art. Surely life, if it be not long, is tedious, since we are forced to call in the assistance of so many trifles to rid us of our time, of that time which never can return.
I know my Baretti will not be satisfied with a letter in which I give him no account of myself: yet what account shall I give him? I have not, since the day of our separation, suffered or done any thing considerable. The only change in my way of life is, that I have frequented the theatre more than in former seasons. But I have gone thither only to escape from myself. We have had many new farces, and the comedy called 'The Jealous Wife,' which, though not written with much genius, was yet so well adapted to the stage, and so well exhibited by the actors, that it was crowded for near twenty nights. I am digressing from myself to the playhouse; but a barren plan must be filled with episodes. Of myself I have nothing to say, but that I have hitherto lived without the concurrence of my own judgement; yet I continue to flatter myself, that, when you return, you will find me mended. I do not wonder that, where the monastick life is permitted, every order finds votaries, and every monastery inhabitants. Men will submit to any rule, by which they may be exempted from the tyranny of caprice and of chance. They are glad to supply by external authority their own want of constancy and resolution, and court the government of others, when long experience has convinced them of their own inability to govern themselves. If I were to visit Italy, my curiosity would be more attracted by convents than by palaces; though I am afraid that I should find expectation in both places equally disappointed, and life in both places supported with impatience and quitted with reluctance. That it must be so soon quitted, is a powerful remedy against impatience; but what shall free us from reluctance? Those who have endeavoured to teach us to die well, have taught few to die willingly; yet I cannot but hope that a good life might end at last in a contented death.
You see to what a train of thought I am drawn by the mention of myself. Let me now turn my attention upon you. I hope you take care to keep an exact journal, and to register all occurrences and observations; for your friends here expect such a book of travels as has not been often seen. You have given us good specimens in your letters from Lisbon. I wish you had staid longer in Spain, for no country is less known to the rest of Europe; but the quickness of your discernment must make amends for the celerity of your motions. He that knows which way to direct his view, sees much in a little time.
Write to me very often, and I will not neglect to write to you; and I may, perhaps, in time get something to write: at least, you will know by my letters, whatever else they may have or want, that I continue to be
Your most affectionate friend, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
June 10, 1761.
An inquiry into the state of foreign countries was an object that seems at all times to have interested Johnson. Hence Mr. Newbery found no great difficulty in persuading him to write the Introduction* to a collection of voyages and travels published by him under the title of
"The World Displayed."
The first volume appeared in 1759, and the remaining volumes in subsequent years.
In 1762 he wrote for the Reverend Dr. Kennedy, Rector of Bradley in Derbyshire, in a strain of very courtly elegance, a Dedication to the King* of that gentleman's work, entitled
"A complete System of astronomical
Chronology, unfolding the Scriptures."
He had certainly looked at this work before it was printed; for the concluding paragraph is undoubtedly of his composition, of which let my readers judge:
"Thus have I endeavoured to free Religion and History from the darkness of a disputed and uncertain chronology; from difficulties which have hitherto appeared insuperable, and darkness which no luminary of learning has hitherto been able to dissipate. I have established the truth of the Mosaical account, by evidence which no transcription can corrupt, no negligence can lose, and no interest can pervert. I have shewn that the universe bears witness to the inspiration of its historian, by the revolution of its orbs and the succession of its seasons;
that the stars in their courses fight against
incredulity, that the works of GOD give hourly confirmation to the
law,
the
prophets,
and the
gospel,
of which
one day telleth another, and one night certifieth another;
and that the validity of the sacred writings never can be denied, while the moon shall increase and wane, and the sun shall know his going down."
The following letter, which, on account of its intrinsick merit, it would have been unjust both to Johnson and the publick to have with-held, was obtained for me by the solicitation of my friend Mr. Seward:
To Dr.
STAUNTON,
(now Sir
GEORGE STAUNTON,
Bart.)
DEAR SIR,
I MAKE haste to answer your kind letter, in hope of hearing again from you before you leave us. I cannot but regret that a man of your qualifications should find it necessary to seek an establishment in Gaudaloupe, which if a peace should restore to the French, I shall think it some alleviation of the loss, that it must restore likewise Dr. Staunton to the English.
It is a melancholy consideration, that so much of our time is necessarily to be spent upon the care of living, and that we can seldom obtain ease in one respect but by resigning it in another; yet I suppose we are by this dispensation not less happy in the whole, than if the spontaneous bounty of Nature poured all that we want into our hands. A few, if they were thus left to themselves, would, perhaps, spend their time in laudable pursuits; but the greater part would prey upon the quiet of each other, or, in the want of other objects, would prey upon themselves.
This, however, is our condition, which we must improve and solace as we can: and though we cannot choose always our place of residence, we may in every place find rational amusements, and possess in every place the comforts of piety and a pure conscience.
In America there is little to be observed except natural curiosities. The new world must have many vegetables and animals with which philosophers are but little acquainted. I hope you will furnish yourself with some books of natural history, and some glasses and other instruments of observation. Trust as little as you can to report; examine all you can by your own senses. I do not doubt but you will be able to add much to knowledge, and, perhaps, to medicine. Wild nations trust to simples; and, perhaps, the Peruvian bark is not the only specifick which those extensive regions may afford us.
Wherever you are, and whatever be your fortune, be certain, dear Sir, that you carry with you my kind wishes; and that whether you return hither, or stay in the other hemisphere, to hear that you are happy will give pleasure to, Sir,
Your most affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
June 1, 1762.
A lady having at this time solicited him to obtain the Archbishop of Canterbury's patronage to have her son sent to the University, one of those solicitations which are too frequent, where people, anxious for a particular object, do not consider propriety, or the opportunity which the persons whom they solicit have to assist them, he wrote to her the following answer; with a copy of which I am favoured by the Reverend Dr. Farmer, Master of Emanuel College, Cambridge.
MADAM,
I HOPE you will believe that my delay in answering your letter could proceed only from my unwillingness to destroy any hope that you had formed. Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords: but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain; and expectations improperly indulged, must end in disappointment. If it be asked, what is the improper expectation which it is dangerous to indulge, experience will quickly answer, that it is such expectation as is dictated not by reason, but by desire; expectation raised, not by the common occurrences of life, but by the wants of the expectant; an expectation that requires the common course of things to be changed, and the general rules of action to be broken.
When you made your request to me, you should have considered, Madam, what you were asking. You ask me to solicit a great man to whom I never spoke, for a young person whom I had never seen, upon a supposition which I had no means of knowing to be true. There is no reason why, amongst all the great, I should chuse to supplicate the Archbishop, nor why, among all the possible objects of his bounty, the Archbishop should chuse your son. I know, Madam, how unwillingly conviction is admitted, when interest opposes it; but surely, Madam, you must allow, that there is no reason why that should be done by me, which every other man may do with equal reason, and which, indeed, no man can do properly, without some very particular relation both to the Archbishop and to you. If I could help you in this exigence by any proper means, it would give me pleasure; but this proposal is so very remote from all usual methods, that I cannot comply with it but at the risk of such answer and suspicions as I believe you do not wish me to undergo.
I have seen your son this morning; he seems a pretty youth, and will, perhaps, find some better friend than I can procure him; but, though he should at last miss the University, he may still be wise, useful, and happy. I am, Madam,
Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
June 8, 1762.
To Mr.
JOSEPH BARETTI,
at Milan.
SIR,
London,
July 20, 1762.
HOWEVER justly you may accuse me for want of punctuality in correspondence, I am not so far lost in negligence as to omit the opportunity of writing to you, which Mr. Beauclerk's passage through Milan affords me.
I suppose you received the Idlers, and I intend that you shall soon receive Shakspeare, that you may explain his works to the ladies of Italy, and tell them the story of the editor, among the other strange narratives with which your long residence in this unknown region has supplied you.
As you have now been long away, I suppose your curiosity may pant for some news of your old friends. Miss Williams and I live much as we did. Miss Cotterel still continues to cling to Mrs. Porter, and Charlotte is now big of the fourth child. Mr. Reynolds gets six thousands a year. Levet is lately married, not without much suspicion that he has been wretchedly cheated in his match. Mr. Chambers is gone this day, for the first time, the circuit with the Judges. Mr. Richardson is dead of an apoplexy, and his second daughter has married a merchant.
My vanity, or my kindness, makes me flatter myself, that you would rather hear of me than of those whom I have mentioned; but of myself I have very little which I care to tell. Last winter I went down to my native town, where I found the streets much narrower and shorter than I thought I had left them, inhabited by a new race of people, to whom I was very little known. My play-fellows were grown old, and forced me to suspect that I was no longer young. My only remaining friend has changed his principles, and was become the tool of the predominant faction. My daughter-in-law, from whom I expected most, and whom I met with sincere benevolence, has lost the beauty and gaiety of youth, without having gained much of the wisdom of age. I wandered about for five days, and took the first convenient opportunity of returning to a place, where, if there is not much happiness, there is at least such a diversity of good and evil, that slight vexations do not fix upon the heart
This is a very just account of the relief which London affords to melancholy minds.
.
I think in a few weeks to try another excursion; though to what end? Let me know, my Baretti, what has been the result of your return to your own country: whether time has made any alteration for the better, and whether, when the first raptures of salutation were over, you did not find your thoughts confessed their disappointment.
Moral sentences appear ostentatious and tumid, when they have no greater occasions than the journey of a wit to his own town: yet such pleasures and such pains make up the general mass of life; and as nothing is little to him that feels it with great sensibility, a mind able to see common incidents in their real state, is disposed by very common incidents to very serious contemplations. Let us trust that a time will come, when the present moment shall be no longer irksome; when we shall not borrow all our happiness from hope, which at last is to end in disappointment.
I beg that you will shew Mr. Beauclerk all the civilities which you have in your power; for he has always been kind to me.
I have lately seen Mr. Stratico, Professor of Padua, who has told me of your quarrel with an Abbot of the Celestine order; but had not the particulars very ready in his memory. When you write to Mr. Marsili, let him know that I remember him with kindness.
May you, my Baretti, be very happy at Milan, or some other place nearer to, Sir,
Your most affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
To the same.
SIR,
Dec. 21, 1762.
YOU are not to suppose, with all your conviction of my idleness, that I have passed all this time without writing to my Baretti. I gave a letter to Mr. Beauclerk, who, in my opinion, and in his own, was hastening to Naples for the recovery of his health; but he has stopped at Paris, and I know not when he will proceed. Langton is with him.
I will not trouble you with speculations about peace and war. The good or ill success of battles and embassies extends itself to a very small part of domestick life: we all have good and evil, which we feel more sensibly than our petty part of publick miscarriage or prosperity. I am sorry for your disappointment, with which you seem more touched than I should expect a man of your resolution and experience to have been, did I not know that general truths are seldom applied to particular occasions▪ and that the fallacy of our self-love extends itself as our interest or affections. Every man believes that mistresses are unfaithful, and patrons capricious; but he excepts his own mistress and his own patron. We have all learned that greatness is negligent and contemptuous, and that in Courts life is often languished away in ungratified expectation; but he that approaches greatness, or glitters in a Court, imagines that destiny has at last exempted him from the common lot.
Do not let such evils overwhelm you as thousands have suffered, and thousands have surmounted; but turn your thoughts with vigour to some other plan of life, and keep always in your mind, that, with due submission to Providence, a man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself. Your patron's weakness or insensibility will finally do you little hurt, if he is not assisted by your own passions. Of your love I know not the propriety, nor can estimate the power; but in love, as in every other passion, of which hope is the essence, we ought always to remember the uncertainty of events. There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman; and if all would happen that a lover fancies, I know not what other terrestrial happiness would deserve pursuit. But love and marriage are different states. Those who are to suffer the evils together, and to suffer often for the sake of one another, soon lose that tenderness of look, and that benevolence of mind, which arose from the participation of unmingled pleasure and successive amusement. A woman, we are sure, will not be always fair; we are not sure she will always be virtuous: and man cannot retain through life that respect and assiduity by which he pleases for a day or for a month. I do not, however, pretend to have discovered that life has any thing more to be desired than a prudent and virtuous marriage; therefore know not what counsel to give you.
If you can quit your imagination of love and greatness, and leave your hopes of preferment and bridal raptures to try once more the fortune of literature and industry, the way through France is now open. We flatter ourselves that we shall cultivate, with great diligence, the arts of peace; and every man will be welcome among us who can teach us any thing we do not know. For your part, you will find all your old friends willing to receive you.
Reynolds still continues to increase in reputation and in riches. Miss Williams, who very much loves you, goes on in the old way. Miss Cotterel is still with Mrs. Porter. Miss Charlotte is married to Dean Lewis, and has three children. Mr. Levet has married a street-walker. But the gazette of my narration must now arrive to tell you, that Bathurst went physician to the army, and died at the Havannah.
I know not whether I have not sent you word that Huggins and Richardson are both dead. When we see our enemies and friends gliding away before us, let us not forget that we are subject to the general law of mortality, and shall soon be where our doom will be fixed for ever.
I pray GOD to bless you, and am, Sir,
Your most affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Write soon.
The accession of George the Third to the throne of these kingdoms, opened a new and brighter prospect to men of literary merit, who had been honoured with no mark of royal favour in the preceding reign. His present Majesty's education in this country, as well as his taste and beneficence, prompted him to be the patron of science and the arts; and early this year Johnson having been represented to him as a very learned and good man, without any certain provision, his Majesty was pleased to grant him a pension of three hundred pounds a year. The Earl of Bute was then prime minister, and had the honour to announce this instance of his sovereign's bounty, concerning which many and various stories, all equally erroneous, have been propagated, maliciously representing it as a political bribe to Johnson to desert his avowed principles, and become the tool of a government which he held to be founded in usurpation. I have taken care to have it in my power to refute them from the most authentick information. Lord Bute has told me, that Mr. Wedderburn, now Lord Loughborough, was the person who first mentioned this subject to him. Lord Loughborough has told me, that the pension was granted to Johnson solely as the reward of his literary merit, without any stipulation whatever, or even tacit understanding that he should write for administration. His Lordship added, that he was confident the political tracts which Johnson afterwards did write, as they were entirely consonant with his own opinions, would have been written by him, though no pension had been granted to him.
Mr. Thomas Sheridan and Mr. Murphy, who then lived a good deal both with him and Mr. Wedderburn, have told me, that they previously talked with Johnson upon this matter, and that it was perfectly understood by all parties that the pension was merely honorary. Sir Joshua Reynolds has told me, that Johnson called on him after his Majesty's intention had been notified to him, and said he wished to consult his friends as to the propriety of his accepting this mark of the royal favour, after the definitions which he had given in his Dictionary of
pension
and
pensioners.
He said he would not have Sir Joshua's answer till next day, when he would call again, and desired he might think of it. Sir Joshua answered, that he was clear to give his opinion then, that there could be no objection to his receiving from the King a reward for literary merit; and that certainly the definitions in his Dictionary were not applicable to him. Johnson, it should seem, was satisfied, for he did not call again till he had accepted the pension, and had waited on Lord Bute to thank him. He then told Sir Joshua that Lord Bute said to him expressly,
"It is not given you for any thing you are to do, but for what you have done."
His Lordship, he said, behaved in the handsomest manner. He repeated the words twice, that he might be sure that Johnson heard them, and thus set his mind perfectly at ease. This nobleman, who has been so virulently abused, acted with great honour in this instance, and displayed a mind truly liberal. A minister of a more narrow and selfish disposition would have availed himself of such an opportunity to fix an implied obligation on a man of Johnson's powerful talents to give him his support.
Mr. Murphy and the late Mr. Sheridan severally contended for the distinction of having been the first who mentioned to Mr. Wedderburn that Johnson ought to have a pension. When I spoke of this to Lord Loughborough, wishing to know if he recollected the prime mover in the business, he said,
"All his friends assisted:"
and when I told him that Mr. Sheridan strenuously asserted his claim to it, his Lordship said,
"He rang the bell."
And it is but just to add, that Mr. Sheridan told me, that when he communicated to Dr. Johnson that a pension was to be granted him, he replied, in a fervour of gratitude,
"The English language does not afford me terms adequate to my feelings on this occasion. I must have recourse to the French. I am
penetré
with his Majesty's goodness."
When I repeated this to Dr. Johnson, he did not contradict it.
His definitions of
pension
and
pensioner,
partly founded on the satirical verses of Pope, which he quotes, may be generally true; and yet every body must allow, that there may be, and have been, instances of pensions given and received upon liberal and honourable terms. Thus, then, it is clear, that there was nothing inconsistent or humiliating in Johnson's accepting of a pension so unconditionally and so honourably offered to him.
This year his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds paid a visit of some weeks to his native county, Devonshire, in which he was accompanied by Johnson, who was much pleased with this jaunt, and declared he had derived from it a great accession of new ideas. He was entertained at the seats of several noblemen and gentlemen in the west of England; but the greatest part of the time was passed at Plymouth, where the magnificence of the navy, the ship-building and all its circumstances, afforded him a grand subject of contemplation. The Commissioner of the Dock-yard paid him the compliment of ordering the yacht to convey him and his friend to the Eddystone, to which they accordingly sailed. But the weather was so tempestuous that they could not land.
Reynolds and he were at this time the guests of Dr. Mudge, the celebrated surgeon, and now physician of that place, not more distinguished for quickness of parts and variety of knowledge, than loved and esteemed for his amiable manners; and here Johnson formed an acquaintanee with Dr. Mudge's father, that very eminent divine, the Reverend Zachary Mudge, Prebendary of Exeter, who was idolised in the west, both for his excellence as a preacher and the uniform perfect propriety of his private conduct. He preached a sermon purposely that Johnson might hear him; and we shall see afterwards that Johnson honoured his memory by drawing his character. While Johnson was at Plymouth, he saw a great many of its inhabitants, and was not sparing of his very entertaining conversation. It was here that he made that frank and truly original confession, that
"ignorance, pure ignorance,"
was the cause of a wrong definition in his Dictionary of the word
pastern
See p. 163.
, to the no small surprize of the Lady who put the question to him; who having the most profound reverence for his character, so as almost to suppose him endowed with infallibility, expected to hear an explanation (of what, to be sure, seemed strange to a common reader,) drawn from some deep-learned source with which she was unacquainted.
Sir Joshua Reynolds, to whom I am obliged for my information concerning this excursion, mentions a very characteristical anecdote of Johnson while at Plymouth. Having observed that in consequence of the Dock-yard a new town had arisen about two miles off as a rival to the old; and knowing from his sagacity, and just observation of human nature, that it is certain if a man hates at all, he will hate his next neighbour; he concluded that this new and rising town could not but excite the envy and jealousy of the old, in which conjecture he was very soon confirmed; he therefore set himself resolutely on the side of the old town, the established town, in which his lot was cast, considering it as a kind of duty to
stand by
it. He accordingly entered warmly into its interests, and upon every occasion talked of the
dockers,
as the inhabitants of the new town were called, as upstarts and aliens. Plymouth is very plentifully supplied with water by a river brought into it from a great distance, which is so abundant that it runs to waste in the town. The Dock, or New-town, being totally destitute of water, petitioned Plymouth that a small portion of the conduit might be permitted to go to them, and this was now under consideration. Johnson, affecting to entertain the passions of the place, was violent in opposition; and half-laughing at himself for his pretended zeal, where he had no concern, exclaimed,
"No, no! I am against the
dockers;
I am a Plymouth-man. Rogues! let them die of thirst. They shall not have a drop!"
In 1763 he furnished to
"The Poetical Calendar,"
published by Fawkes and Woty, a character of Collins, * which he afterwards ingrafted into his entire life of that admirable poet, in the collection of lives which he wrote for the body of English poetry, formed and published by the booksellers of London. His account of the melancholy depression with which Collins was severely afflicted, and which brought him to his grave, is, I think, one of the most tender and interesting passages in the whole series of his writings. He also favoured Mr. Hoole with the Dedication of his translation of Tasso to
the Queen, * which is so happily conceived and elegantly expressed, that I cannot but point it out to the peculiar notice of my readers.
This is to me a memorable year, for in it I had the happiness to obtain the acquaintance of that extraordinary man whose memoirs I am now writing; an acquaintance which I shall ever esteem as one of the most fortunate circumstances in my life. Though then but two-and-twenty, I had for several years read his works with delight and instruction, and had the highest reverence for their authour, which had grown up in my fancy into a kind of mysterious veneration, by figuring to myself a state of solėmn elevated abstraction, in which I supposed him to live in the immense metropolis of London. Mr. Gentleman, a native of Ireland, who passed some years in Scotland as a player, and as an instructor in the English language, a man whose talents and worth were depressed by misfortunes, had given me a representation of his figure and manner; and during my first visit to London, which was for three months in 1760, Mr. Derrick the poet, who was Gentleman's friend and countryman, flattered me with hopes that he would introduce me to Johnson, an honour of which I was very ambitious. But he never found an opportunity, which made me doubt that he had promised to do what was not in his power, till Johnson some years afterwards told me,
"Derrick, Sir, might very well have introduced you. I had a kindness for Derrick, and am sorry he is dead."
In the summer of 1761 Mr. Thomas Sheridan was at Edinburgh, and delivered lectures upon the English Language and Publick Speaking to large and respectable audiences. I was often in his company, and heard him frequently expatiate upon Johnson's extraordinary knowledge, talents, and virtues, repeat his pointed sayings, describe his particularities, and boast of his being his guest sometimes till two or three in the morning. At his house I hoped to have many opportunities of seeing the sage, as Mr. Sheridan obligingly assured me I should not be disappointed.
When I returned to London in the end of 1762, to my surprize and regret I found an irreconcileable difference had taken place between Johnson and Sheridan. A pension of two hundred pounds a year had been given to Sheridan▪ Johnson, who as has been already mentioned, thought slightingly of Sheridan's art, upon hearing that he was also pensioned, exclaimed,
"What! have they given
him
a pension? Then it is time for me to give up mine."
Whether this proceeded from a momentary indignation, as if it were an affront to his exalted merit that a player should be rewarded in the same manner with him, or was the sudden effect of fit of peevishness, it was unluckily said, and, indeed, cannot be justified. Mr. Sheridan's pension was granted to him not as a player, but as a sufferer in the cause of government, when he was manager of the Theatre Royal in Ireland, when parties ran high in 1753. And it must also be allowed that he was a man of literature, and had considerably improved the arts of reading and speaking with distinctness and propriety.
Besides, Johnson should have recollected that Mr. Sheridan taught pronunciation to Mr. Alexander Wedderburn, whose sister was married to Sir Harry Erskine, an intimate friend of Lord Bute, who was the favourite of the King; and surely the most outrageous Whig will not maintain, that, whatever ought to be the principle in the disposal of
offices,
a
pension
ought never to be granted from any bias of court connection. Mr. Macklin, indeed, shared with Mr. Sheridan the honour of instructing Mr. Wedderburn; and though it was too late in life for a Caledonian to acquire the genuine English cadence, yet so successful were Mr. Wedderburn's instructors, and his own unabating endeavours, that he got rid of the coarse part of his Scotch accent, retaining only as much of the
"native wood-note wild,"
as to mark his country; which, if any Scotchman should affect to forget, I should heartily despise him. Notwithstanding the difficulties which are to be encountered by those who have not had the advantange of an English education, he by degrees formed a mode of speaking, to which Englishmen do not deny the praise of elegance. Hence his distinguished oratory, which he exerted in his own country as an advocate in the Court of Session, and a ruling elder of the
Kirk,
has had its fame and ample reward, in much higher spheres. When I look back on this noble person at Edinburgh, in situations so unworthy of his brilliant powers, and behold LORD LOUGHBOROUGH at London, the change seems almost like one of the metamorphoses in Ovid; and as his two preceptors, by refining his utterance, gave currency to his talents, we may say in the words of that poet,
"Nam vos mutastis."
I have dwelt the longer upon this remarkable instance of successful parts and assiduity, because it affords animating encouragement to other gentlemen of North-Britain to try their fortunes in the southern part of the island, where they may hope to gratify their utmost ambition; and now that we are one people by the Union, it would surely be illiberal to maintain that they have not an equal title with the natives of any other part of his Majesty's dominions.
Johnson complained that a man who disliked him repeated his sarcasm to Mr. Sheridan, without telling him what followed, which was, that after a pause he added,
"However, I am glad that Mr. Sheridan has a pension, for he is a very good man."
Sheridan could never forgive this hasty contemptuous expression. It rankled in his mind; and though I informed him of all that Johnson said, and that he would be very glad to meet him amicably, he positively declined repeated offers which I made, and once went off abruptly from a house where he and I were engaged to dine, because he was told that Dr. Johnson was to be there. I have no sympathetick feeling with such persevering resentment. It is painful when there is a breach between those who have lived together socially and cordially; and I wonder that there is not, in all such cases, a mutual wish that it should be healed. I could perceive that Mr. Sheridan was by no means satisfied with Johnson's acknowledging him to be a good man. That could not sooth his injured vanity. I could not but smile, at the same time that I was offended, to observe Sheridan in the Life of Swift
P. 447.
, which he afterwards published, attempting, in the writhings of his resentment, to depreciate Johnson, by characterising him
"A writer of gigantick fame in these days of little men;"
that very Johnson whom he once so highly admired and venerated.
This rupture with Sheridan deprived Johnson of one of his most agreeable resources for amusement in his lonely evenings; for Sheridan's well-informed, animated, and bustling mind never suffered conversation to stagnate; and Mrs. Sheridan was a most agreeable companion to an intellectual man. She was sensible, ingenious, unassuming, yet communicative. I recollect, with satisfaction, many pleasing hours which I passed with her under the hospitable roof of her husband, who was to me a very kind friend. Her novel, entitled
"Memoirs of Miss Sydney Biddulph,"
contains an excellent moral, while it inculcates a future state of retribution; and what it teaches is impressed upon the mind by a series of as deep distress as can affect humanity. Johnson paid her this high compliment upon it:
"I know not, Madam, that you have a right, upon moral principles, to make your readers suffer so much."
Mr. Thomas Davies the actor, who then kept a bookseller's shop in Russel-street, Covent-garden, told me that Johnson was very much his friend, and came frequently to his house, where he more than once invited me to meet him; but by some unlucky accident or other he was prevented from coming to us.
Mr. Thomas Davies was a man of good understanding and talents, with the advantage of a liberal education. Though somewhat pompous, he was an entertaining companion; and his literary performances have no inconsiderable share of merit. He was a friendly and very hospitable man. Both he and his wife, (who has been celebrated for her beauty,) though upon the stage for many years, maintained an uniform decency of character; and Johnson esteemed them, and lived in as easy an intimacy with them as with any family which he used to visit. Mr. Davies recollected several of Johnson's remarkable sayings, and was one of the best of the many imitators of his voice and manner, while relating them. He increased my impatience more and more to see the extraordinary man whose works I highly valued, and whose conversation was reported to be so peculiarly excellent.
At last, on Monday the 16th of May, when I was sitting in Mr. Davies's back parlour, after having drunk tea with him and Mrs. Davies, Johnson unexpectedly came into the shop; and Mr. Davies having perceived him through the glass door of the room in which we were sitting, advancing towards us,—he announced his aweful approach to me, somewhat in the manner of an actor in the part of Horatio, when he addresses Hamlet on the appearance of his father's ghost,
"Look, my Lord, it comes."
I found that I had a very perfect idea of Johnson's figure, from the portrait of him painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds soon after he had published his Dictionary, in the attitude of sitting in his easy chair in deep meditation, which was the first picture his friend did for him, which Sir Joshua has very kindly presented to me, and from which an engraving has been made for this work. Mr. Davies mentioned my name, and respectfully introduced me to him. I was much agitated; and recollecting his prejudice against the Scotch, of which I had heard much, I said to Davies,
"Don't tell where I come from."
—
"From Scotland,"
cried Davies, roguishly.
"Mr. Johnson (said I) I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it."
I am willing to flatter myself that I meant this as light pleasantry to sooth and conciliate him, and not as any humiliating abasement at the expence of my country. But however that might be, this speech was somewhat unlucky; for with that quickness of wit for which he was so remarkable, he seized the expression
"come from Scotland,"
which I used in the sense of being of that country; and as if I had said that I had come away from it or left it, retorted,
"That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help."
This stroke stunned me a good deal; and when we had sat down, I felt myself not a little embarrassed, and apprehensive of what might come next. He then addressed himself to Davies:
"What do you think of Garrick? He has refused me an order for the play for Miss Williams, because he knows the house will be full, and that an order would be worth three shillings."
Eager to take any opening to get into conversation with him, I ventured to say,
"O, Sir, I cannot think Mr. Garrick would grudge such a trifle to you."
"Sir, (said he, with a stern look,) I have known David Garrick longer than you have done; and I know no right you have to talk to me on the subject."
Perhaps I deserved this check; for it was rather presumptuous in me, an entire stranger, to express any doubt of the justice of his animadversion upon his old acquaintance and pupil
That this was a momentary sally against Garrick there can be no doubt; for at Johnson's desire he had, some years before, given a benefit-night at his theatre to this very person, by which she got two hundred pounds. Johnson, indeed, upon all other occasions, when I was in his company, praised the very liberal charity of Garrick. I once mentioned to him,
"It is observed, Sir, that you attack Garrick yourself, but will suffer nobody else to do it."
JOHNSON, (smiling)
"Why, Sir, that is true."
. I now felt myself much mortified, and began to think that the hope which I had long indulged of obtaining his acquaintance was blasted. And, in truth, had not my ardour been uncommonly strong, and my resolution uncommonly persevering, so rough a reception might have deterred me for ever from making any further attempts. Fortunately, however, I remained upon the field not wholly discomfited; and was soon rewarded by hearing some of his conversation, of which I preserved the following short minute, without marking the questions and observations by which it was produced.
People (he remarked) may be taken in once, who imagine that an authour is greater in private life than other men. Uncommon parts require uncommon opportunities for their exertion.
In barbarous society, superiority of parts is of real consequence. Great strength or great wisdom is of much value to an individual. But in more polished times there are people to do every thing for money; and then there are a number of other superiorities, such as those of birth and fortune, and rank, that dissipate men's attention, and leave no extraordinary share of respect for personal and intellectual superiority. This is wisely ordered by Providence, to preserve some equality among mankind.
Sir, this book ('The Elements of Criticism,' which he had taken up,) is a pretty essay, and deserves to be held in some estimation, though much of it is chimerical.
Speaking of one who with more than ordinary boldness attacked publick measures and the royal family, he said,
"I think he is safe from the law, but he is an abusive scoundrel; and instead of applying to my Lord Chief Justice to punish him, I would send half a dozen footmen and have him well ducked."
The notion of liberty amuses the people of England, and helps to keep off the
taedium vitae.
When a butcher tells you that his heart bleeds for his country, he has, in fact, no uneasy feeling.
Sheridan will not succeed at Bath with his oratory. Ridicule has gone down before him, and, I doubt, Derrick is his enemy
Mr. Sheridan was then reading lectures upon Oratory at Bath, where Derrick was Master of the Ceremonies, or, as the phrase is, KING.
.
Derrick may do very well, as long as he can outrun his character; but the moment his character gets up with him it is all over.
It is, however, but just to record, that some years afterwards, when I reminded him of this sarcasm, he said,
"Well, but Derrick has now got a character that he need not run away from."
I was highly pleased with the extraordinary vigour of his conversation, and regretted that I was drawn away from it by an engagement at another place. I had, for a part of the evening, been left alone with him, and had ventured to make an observation now and then, which he received very civilly; so that I was satisfied that though there was a roughness in his manner, there was no ill-nature in his disposition. Davies followed me to the door, and when I complained to him a little of the hard blows which the great man had given me, he kindly took upon him to console me by saying,
"Don't be uneasy. I can see he likes you very well."
A few days afterwards I called on Davies, and asked him if he thought I might take the liberty of waiting on Mr. Johnson at his Chambers in the Temple. He said I certainly might, and that Mr. Johnson would take it as a compliment. So upon Tuesday the 24th, after having been enlivened by the witty sallies of Messieurs Thornton, Wilkes, Churchill and Lloyd, with whom I had passed the morning, I boldly repaired to Johnson. His Chambers were on the first floor of No. 1, Inner Temple-lane, and I entered them with an impression given me by the Reverend Dr. Blair, of Edinburgh, who had been introduced to him not long before, and described his having
"found the giant in his den;"
an expression, which, when I came to be pretty well acquainted with Johnson, I repeated to him, and he was diverted at this picturesque account of himself. Dr. Blair had been presented to him by Dr. James Fordyce. At this time the controversy concerning the pieces published by Mr. James Macpherson, as translations of Ossian, was at its height. Johnson had all along denied their authenticity; and, what was still more provoking to their admirers, maintained that they had no merit. The subject having been introduced by Dr. Fordyce, Dr. Blair, relying on the internal evidence of their antiquity, asked Dr. Johnson whether he thought any man of a modern age could have written such poems? Johnson replied,
"Yes, Sir, many men, many women, and many children."
Johnson, at this time, did not know that Dr. Blair had just published a Dissertation, not only defending their authenticity, but seriously ranking them with the poems of Homer and Virgil; and when he was afterwards informed of this circumstance, he expressed some displeasure at Dr. Fordyce's having suggested the topick, and said,
"I am not sorry that they got thus much for their pains. Sir, it was like leading one to talk of a book, when the authour is concealed behind the door."
He received me very courteously; but, it must be confessed, that his apartment, and furniture, and morning dress, were sufficiently uncouth. His brown suit of cloaths looked very rusty; he had on a little old shrivelled unpowdered wig, which was too small for his head; his shirt-neck and knees of his breeches were loose; his black worsted stockings ill drawn up; and he had a pair of unbuckled shoes by way of slippers. But all these slovenly particularities were forgotten the moment that he began to talk. Some gentlemen, whom I do not recollect, were sitting with him; and when they went away, I also rose; but he said to me,
"Nay, don't go."
—
"Sir, (said I) I am afraid that I intrude upon you. It is benevolent to allow me to sit and hear you."
He seemed pleased with this compliment, which I sincerely paid him, and answered,
"Sir, I am obliged to any man who visits me."
I have preserved the following short minute of what passed this day.
"Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend Smart shewed the disturbance of his mind by falling upon his knees and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all, than to pray as Smart did, I am afraid there are so many who do not pray, that their understanding is not called in question."
Concerning this unfortunate poet, Christopher Smart, who was confined in a mad-house, he had, at another time, the following conversation with Dr. Burney. JOHNSON.
"It seems as if his mind had ceased to struggle with the disease; for he grows fat upon it."
BURNEY.
"Perhaps, Sir, that may be from want of exercise."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; he has partly as much exercise as he used to have, for he digs in the garden. Indeed, before his confinement, he used for exercise to walk to the alehouse; but he was
carried
back again. I did not think he ought to be shut up. His infirmities were not noxious to society. He insisted on people praying with him; and I'd as lief pray with Kit. Smart as any one else. Another charge was, that he did not love clean linen; and I have no passion for it."
"Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labour; but even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it."
The morality of an action depends on the motive from which we act. If I fling half a crown to a beggar with intention to break his head, and he picks it up and buys victuals with it, the physical effect is good; but, with respect to me, the action is very wrong. So, religious exercises, if not performed with an intention to please GOD, avail us nothing. As our Saviour says of those who perform them from other motives, 'Verily they have their reward.'
The Christian Religion has very strong evidences. It, indeed, appears in some degree strange to reason; but in History we have undoubted facts, against which, in reasoning
à priori,
we have more arguments than we have for them; but then, testimony has great weight, and casts the balance. I would recommend to every man whose faith is yet unsettled, Grotius,—Dr. Pearson,—and Dr. Clark.
Talking of Garrick, he said,
"He is the first man in the world for sprightly conversation."
When I rose a second time he again pressed me to stay, which I did.
He told me, that he generally went abroad at four in the afternoon, and seldom came home till two in the morning. I took the liberty to ask if he did not think it wrong to live thus, and not make more use of his great talents. He owned it was a bad habit. On reviewing, at the distance of many years, my journal of this period, I wonder how, at my first visit, I ventured to talk to him so freely, and that he bore it with so much indulgence.
Before we parted he was so good as to promise to favour me with his company one evening at my lodgings; and, as I took my leave, shook me cordially by the hand. It is almost needless to add, that I felt no little elation at having now so happily established an acquaintance of which I had been so long ambitious.
My readers will, I trust, excuse me for being thus minutely circumstantial, when it is considered that the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson was to me a most valuable acquisition, and laid the foundation of whatever instruction and entertainment they may receive from my collections concerning the great subject of the work which they are now perusing.
I did not visit him again till Monday, June 13, at which time I recollect no part of his conversation, except that when I told him I had been to see Johnson ride upon three horses, he said,
"Such a man, Sir, should be encouraged; for his performances shew the extent of the human powers in one instance, and thus tend to raise our opinion of the faculties of man. He shews what may be attained by persevering application; so that every man may hope, that by giving as much application, although perhaps he may never ride three horses at a time or dance upon a wire, yet he may be equally expert in whatever profession he has chosen to pursue."
He again shook me by the hand at parting, and asked me why I did not come oftener to him. Trusting that I was now in his good graces, I answered, that he had not given me much encouragement, and reminded him of the check I had received from him at our first interview.
"Poh, poh! (said he, with a complacent smile,) never mind these things. Come to me as often as you can. I shall be glad to see you."
I had learnt that his place of frequent resort was the Mitre tavern in Fleetstreet, where he loved to sit up late, and I begged I might be allowed to pass an evening with him there soon, which he promised I should. A few days afterwards I met him near Temple-bar, about one o'clock in the morning, and asked if he would then go to the Mitre.
"Sir, (said he) it is too late; they won't let us in. But I'll go with you another night with all my heart."
A revolution of some importance in my plan of life had just taken place; for instead of procuring a commission in the foot-guards, which was my own inclination, I had, in compliance with my father's wishes, agreed to study the law, and was soon to set out for Utrecht, to hear the lectures of an excellent Civilian in that University, and then to proceed on my travels. Though very desirous of obtaining Dr. Johnson's advice and instructions on the mode of pursuing my studies, I was at this time so occupied, shall I call it? or so dissipated, by the amusements of London, that our next meeting was not till Saturday, June 25, when happening to dine at Clifton's eating-house, in Butcher-row, I was surprized to perceive Johnson come in and take his seat at another table. The mode of dining, or rather being fed at such houses in London, is well known to many to be particularly unsocial, as there is no Ordinary, or united company, but each person has his own mess, and is under no obligation to hold any intercourse with any one. A liberal and full-minded man, however, who loves to talk, will break through this churlish and unsocial restraint. Johnson and an Irish gentleman got into a dispute concerning the cause of some part of mankind being black.
"Why, Sir, (said Johnson,) it has been accounted for in three ways: either by supposing that they are the posterity of Ham, who was cursed; or that GOD at first created two kinds of men, one black and another white; or that by the heat of the sun the skin is scorched, and so acquires a sooty hue. This matter has been much canvassed among naturalists, but has never been brought to any certain issue."
What the Irishman said is totally obliterated from my mind; but I remember that he became very warm and intemperate in his expressions; upon which Johnson rose, and quietly walked away. When he had retired, his antagonist took his revenge, as he thought, by saying
"He has a most ungainly figure, and an affectation of pomposity unworthy of a man of genius."
Johnson had not observed that I was in the room. I followed him, however, and he agreed to meet me in the evening at the Mitre. I called on him, and we went thither at nine. We had a good supper, and port wine, of which he then sometimes drank a bottle. The orthodox high-church sound of the Mitre, the figure and manner of the celebrated Samuel Johnson, the extraordinary power and precision of his conversation, and the pride arising from finding myself admitted as his companion, produced a variety of sensations, and a pleasing elevation of mind beyond what I had ever before experienced. I find in my journal the following minute of our conversation, which, though it will give but a very faint notion of what passed, is, in some degree, a valuable record; and it will be curious in this view, as shewing how habitual to his mind were some opinions which appear in his works.
"Colley Cibber, Sir, was by no means a blockhead; but by arrogating to himself too much, he was in danger of losing that degree of estimation to which he was entitled. His friends gave out that he
intended
his birth-day Odes should be bad: but that was not the case, Sir; for he kept them many months by him, and a few years before he died he shewed me one of them, with great solicitude to render it as perfect as might be, and I made some corrections, to which he was not very willing to submit. I remember the following couplet in allusion to the King and himself:
'Perch'd on the eagle's soaring wing
'The lowly linnet loves to sing.'
Sir, he had heard something of the fabulous tale of the wren sitting upon the eagle's wing, and he had applied it to a linnet. Cibber's familiar style, however, was better than that which Whitehead has assumed.
Grand
nonsense is insupportable. Whitehead is but a little man to inscribe verses to players."
I did not presume to controvert this censure, which was tinctured with his prejudice against players; but I could not help thinking that a dramatick poet might with propriety pay a compliment to an eminent performer, as Whitehead has very happily done in his verses to Mr. Garrick.
"Sir, I do not think Gray a first-rate poet. He has not a bold imagination, nor much command of words. The obscurity in which he has involved himself will not persuade us that he is sublime. His Elegy in a church-yard has a happy selection of images, but I don't like what are called his great things. His Ode which begins
'Ruin seize thee, ruthless King,
'Confusion on thy banners wait,'
has been celebrated for its abruptness, and plunging into the subject all at once. But such arts as these have no merit, unless when they are original. We admire them only once; and this abruptness has nothing new in it. We have had it often before. Nay, we have it in the old song of Johnny Armstrong:
'Is there ever a man in all Scotland
'From the highest estate to the lowest degree, &c.'
And then, Sir,
'Yes, there is a man in Westmoreland,
'And Johnny Armstrong they do him call.'
There, now, you plunge at once into the subject. You have no previous narration to lead you to it.—The two next lines in that Ode are, I think, very good:
'Though fann'd by conquest's crimson wing,
'They mock the air with idle state
My friend Mr. Malone, in his valuable comments on Shakspeare, has traced in that great poet the
disjecta membra
of these lines.
."
Here let it be observed, that although his opinion of Gray's poetry was widely different from mine, and I believe from that of most men of taste, by whom it is with justice highly admired, there is certainly much absurdity in the clamour which has been raised, as if he had been culpably injurious to the merit of that bard, and had been actuated by envy. Alas! ye little short-sighted criticks, could Johnson be envious of the talents of any of his contemporaries? That his opinion on this subject was what in private and in publick he uniformly expressed, regardless of what others might think, we may wonder, and perhaps regret; but it is shallow and unjust to charge him with expressing what he did not think.
Finding him in a placid humour, and wishing to avail myself of the opportunity which I fortunately had of consulting a sage, to hear whose wisdom, I conceived in the ardour of youthful imagination, that men filled with a noble enthusiasm for intellectual improvement would gladly have resorted from distant lands; I opened my mind to him ingenuously, and gave him a little sketch of my life, to which he was pleased to listen with great attention.
I acknowledged, that though educated very strictly in the principles of religion, I had for some time been misled into a certain degree of infidelity; but that I was come now to a better way of thinking, and was fully satisfied of the truth of the Christian revelation, though I was not clear as to every point considered to be orthodox. Being at all times a curious examiner of the human mind, and pleased with an undisguised display of what had passed in it, he called to me with warmth,
"Give me your hand; I have taken a liking to you."
He then began to descant upon the force of testimony, and the little we could know of final causes; so that the objections of, why was it so? or why was it not so? ought not to disturb us: adding, that he himself had at one period been guilty of a temporary neglect of religion, but that it was not the result of argument, but mere absence of thought.
After having given credit to reports of his bigotry, I was agreeably surprized when he expressed the following very liberal sentiment, which has the additional value of obviating an objection to our holy religion, founded upon the discordant tenets of Christians themselves:
"For my part, Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious."
We talked of belief in ghosts. He said,
"Sir, I make a distinction between what a man may experience by the mere strength of his imagination, and what imagination cannot possibly produce. Thus, suppose I should think that I saw a form, and heard a voice cry 'Johnson, you are a very wicked fellow, and unless you repent you will certainly be punished;' my own unworthiness is so deeply impressed upon my mind, that I might
imagine
I thus saw and heard, and therefore I should not believe that an external communication had been made to me. But if a form should appear, and a voice should tell me that a particular man had died at a particular place, and a particular hour, a fact which I had no apprehension of, nor any means of knowing, and this fact with all its circumstances should afterwards be unquestionably proved, I should, in that case be persuaded that I had supernatural intelligence imparted to me."
Here it is proper, once for all, to give a true and fair statement of Johnson's way of thinking upon the question whether departed spirits are ever permitted to appear in this world, or in any way to operate upon human life. He has been ignorantly misrepresented as weakly credulous upon that subject; and therefore, though I feel an inclination to disdain and treat with silent contempt so absurd a notion concerning my illustrious friend, yet as I find it has gained ground, it is necessary to refute it. The real fact then is, that Johnson had a very philosophical mind, and such a rational respect for testimony, as to make him submit his understanding to what was authentically proved, though he could not comprehend why it was so. Being thus disposed, he was willing to inquire into the truth of any relation of supernatural agency, a general belief of which has prevailed in all nations and ages. But so far was he from being the dupe of implicit faith, that he examined the matter with a jealous attention, and no man was more ready to refute its falshood when he had discovered it. Churchill, in his poem entitled
"The Ghost,"
availed himself of the absurd credulity imputed to Johnson, and drew a caricature of him under the name of
"POMPOSO,"
representing him as one of the believers of the story of a Ghost in Cock-lane, which in the year 1762 had gained very general credit in London. Many of my readers, I am convinced, are to this hour under an impression that Johnson was thus foolishly deceived. It will therefore surprize them a good deal when they are informed upon undoubted authority, that Johnson was one of those by whom the imposture was detected. The story had become so popular, that he thought it should be investigated; and in this research he was assisted by the Reverend Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Carlisle, the great detecter of impostures, who informs me, that after the gentlemen who went and examined into the evidence were satisfied of its falsity, Johnson wrote in their presence an account of it, which was published in the newspapers and Gentleman's Magazine, and undeceived the world
The account was as follows:
"On the night of the 1st of February, many gentlemen, eminent for their rank and character, were, by the invitation of the Reverend Mr. Aldrich, of Clerkenwell, assembled at his house, for the examination of the noises supposed to be made by a departed spirit, for the detection of some enormous crime.
About ten at night the gentlemen met in the chamber in which the girl supposed to be disturbed by a spirit, had, with proper caution, been put to bed by several ladies. They sat rather more than an hour, and hearing nothing, went down stairs, when they interrogated the father of the girl, who denied, in the strongest terms, any knowledge or belief of fraud.
The supposed spirit had before publickly promised, by an affirmative knock, that it would attend one of the gentlemen into the valut under the church of St. John, Clerkenwell, where the body is deposited, and give a token of her presence there, by a knock upon her coffin; it was therefore determined to make this trial of the existence or veracity of the supposed spirit.
While they were enquiring and deliberating, they were summoned into the girl's chamber by some ladies who were near her bed, and who had heard knocks and scratches. When the gentlemen entered, the girl declared that she felt the spirit like a mouse upon her back, and was required to hold her hands out of bed. From that time, though the spirit was very solemnly required to manifest its existence by appearance, by impression on the hand or body of any present, by scratches, knocks, or any other agency, no evidence of any preter-natural power was exhibited.
The spirit was then very seriously advertised that the person to whom the promise was made of striking the coffin, was then about to visit the vault, and that the performance of the promise was then claimed. The company at one o'clock went into the church, and the gentleman to whom the promise was made, went with another into the vault. The spirit was solemnly required to perform its promise, but nothing more than silence ensued: the person supposed to be accused by the spirit, then went down with several others, but no effect was perceived. Upon their return they examined the girl, but could draw no confession from her. Between two and three she desired and was permitted to go home with her father.
It is, therefore, the opinion of the whole assembly, that the child has some art of making or counterfeiting a particular noise, and that there is no agency of any higher cause.
.
Our conversation proceeded.
"Sir, (said he) I am a friend to subordination, as most conducive to the happiness of society. There is a reciprocal pleasure in governing and being governed."
"Dr. Goldsmith is one of the first men we now have as an authour, and he is a very worthy man too. He has been loose in his principles, but he is coming right."
I mentioned Mallet's tragedy of ELVIRA, which had been acted the preceding winter at Drury-lane, and that the Honourable Andrew Erskine, Mr. Dempster, and myself, had joined in writing a pamphlet, entitled
"Critical Strictures"
against it
The Critical Review, in which Mallet himself sometimes wrote, characterised this pamphlet as
"the crude efforts of envy, petulance, and self-conceit."
There being thus three epithets, we the three authours had a humourous contention how each should be appropriated.
. That the mildness of Dempster's disposition had, however, relented; and he had candidly said,
"We have hardly a right to abuse this tragedy; for, bad as it is, how vain should either of us be to write one not near so good."
JOHNSON.
"Why no, Sir; this is not just reasoning. You
may
abuse a tragedy, though you cannot write one. You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables."
When I talked to him of the paternal estate to which I was heir, he said,
"Sir, let me tell you, that to be a Scotch landlord, where you have a number of families dependent upon you, and attached to you, is, perhaps, as high a situation as humanity can arrive at. A merchant upon the 'Change of London, with a hundred thousand pounds, is nothing: an English duke, with an immense fortune, is nothing: he has no tenants▪ who consider themselves as under his patriarchal care, and who will follow him to the field upon any emergency."
His notion of the dignity of a Scotch landlord had been formed upon what he had heard of the Highland Chiefs; for it is long since a lowland landlord has been so curtailed in his feudal authority, that he has little more influence over his tenants than an English landlord; and of late years most of the Highland Chiefs have destroyed, by means too well known, the princely power which they once enjoyed.
He proceeded:
"Your going abroad, Sir, and breaking off idle habits, may be of great importance to you. I would go where there are courts and learned men. There is a good deal of Spain that has not been perambulated. I would have you go thither. A man of inferiour talents to yours may furnish us with useful observations upon that country."
His supposing me, at that period of life, capable of writing an account of my travels that would deserve to be read, elated me not a little.
I appeal to every impartial reader whether this faithful detail of his frankness, complacency, and kindness to a young man, a stranger and a Scotchman, does not refute the unjust opinion of the harshness of his general demeanour. His occasional reproofs of folly, impudence, or impiety, and even the sudden sallies of his constitutional irritability of temper, which have been preserved for the poignancy of their wit, have produced that opinion among those who have not considered that such instances, though collected by Mrs. Piozzi into a small volume, and read over in a few hours, were, in fact, scattered through a long series of years; years, in which his time was chiefly spent in instructing and delighting mankind by his writings and conversation, in acts of piety to GOD, and good-will to men.
I complained to him that I had not yet acquired much knowledge, and asked his advice as to my studies. He said,
"Don't talk of study now. I will give you a plan; but it will require some time to consider of it."
"It is very good in you, Mr. Johnson, (I replied) to allow me to be with you thus. Had it been foretold to me some years ago that I should pass an evening with the authour of the RAMBLER, how should I have exulted!"
What I then expressed was sincerely from the heart. He was satisfied that it was, and cordially answered,
"Sir, I am glad we have met. I hope we shall pass many evenings and mornings too, together."
We finished a couple of bottles of port, and sat till between one and two in the morning.
He wrote this year in the Critical Review the account of
"Telemachus, a Mask,"
by the Reverend George Graham, of Eton College. The subject of this beautiful poem was particularly interesting to Johnson, who had much experience of
"the conflict of opposite principles,"
which he describes as,
"The contention between pleasure and virtue, a struggle which will always be continued while the present system of nature shall subsist: nor can history or poetry exhibit more than pleasure triumphing over virtue, and virtue subjugating pleasure."
As Dr. Oliver Goldsmith will frequently appear in this narrative, I shall endeavour to make my readers in some degree acquainted with his singular character. He was a native of Ireland, and a contemporary with Mr. Burke, at Trinity College, Dublin, but did not then give much promise of future celebrity. He, however, observed to Mr. Malone, that
"though he made no great figure in mathematicks, which was a study in much repute there, he could turn an Ode of Horace better than any of them."
He afterwards studied physick
t Edinburgh, and upon the Continent; and I have been informed, was enabled to pursue his travels on foot, partly by demanding at Universities to enter the lists as a disputant, by which, according to the custom of many of them, he was entitled to the premium of a crown, when luckily for him his challenge was not accepted; so that, as I once observed to Dr. Johnson, he
disputed
his passage through Europe. He then came to England, and was employed successively in the capacities of an usher to an academy, a corrector of the press, a reviewer, and a writer for a newspaper. He had sagacity enough to cultivate assiduously the acquaintance of Johnson, and his faculties were gradually enlarged by the contemplation of such a model. To me and many others it appeared that he studiously copied the manner of Johnson, though, indeed, upon a smaller scale.
At this time I think he had published nothing with his name, though it was pretty generally known that
one Dr. Goldsmith
was the authour of
"An Essay on the present State of polite Literature,"
and of
"The Citizen of the World,"
a series of letters supposed to be written from London by a Chinese. No man had the art of displaying with more advantage as a writer, whatever literary acquisitions he made.
"Nihil quod tetigit non ornavit
See his Epitaph in Westminster Abbey, written by Dr. Johnson.
."
His mind resembled a fertile, but thin soil. There was a quick, but not a strong vegetation, of whatever chanced to be thrown upon it. No deep root could be struck. The oak of the forest did not grow there; but the elegant shrubbery and the fragrant parterre appeared in gay succession. It has been generally circulated and believed that he was a mere fool in conversation
In allusion to this, Mr. Horace Walpole, who admired his writings, said he was
"an inspired ideot;"
and Garrick described him as one
"—for shortness call'd Noll,
"Who wrote like an angel, and talk'd like poor Poll."
Sir Joshua Reynolds has mentioned to me that he frequently heard Goldsmith talk warmly of the pleasure of being liked, and observe how hard it would be if literary excellence should preclude a man from that satisfaction, which he perceived it often did, from the envy which attended it; and therefore Sir Joshua was convinced that he was intentionally more absurd, in order to lessen himself in social intercourse, trusting that his character would be sufficiently supported by his works. If it indeed was his intention to appear absurd in company, he was often very successful. But with due deference to Sir Joshua's ingenuity, I think the conjecture too refined.
; but, in truth, this has been greatly exaggerated. He had, no doubt, a more than common share of that hurry of ideas which we often find in his countrymen, and which sometimes produces a laughable confusion in expressing them. He was very much what the French call
un etourdi,
and from vanity and an eager desire of being conspicuous wherever he was, he frequently talked carelessly without knowledge of the subject, or even without thought. His person was short, his countenance coarse and vulgar, his deportment that of a scholar aukwardly affecting the easy gentleman. Those who were in any way distinguished, excited envy in him to so ridiculous an excess, that the instances of it are hardly credible. When accompanying two beautiful young ladies with their mother on a tour in France, he was seriously angry that more attention was paid to them than to him; and once at the exhibition of the
Fantoccini,
in London, when those who sat next him observed with what dexterity a puppet was made to toss a pike, he could not bear that it should have such praise, and exclaimed with some warmth,
"Pshaw! I can do it better myself."
He, I am afraid, had no settled system of any sort, so that his conduct must not be strictly scrutinised; but his affections were social and generous, and when he had money he gave it away very liberally. His desire of imaginary consequence predominated over his attention to truth. When he began to rise into notice, he said he had a brother who was Dean of Durham, a fiction so easily detected, that it is wonderful how he should have been so inconsiderate as to hazard it. He boasted to me at this time of the power of his pen in commanding money, which I believe was true in a certain degree, though in the instance he gave he was by no means correct. He told me that he had sold a novel for four hundred pounds. This was his
"Vicar of Wakefield."
But Johnson informed me, that he had made the bargain for Goldsmith, and the price was sixty pounds.
"And, Sir, (said he) a sufficient price too, when it was sold; for then the fame of Goldsmith had not been elevated, as it afterwards was, by his 'Traveller;' and the bookseller had such faint hopes of profit by his bargain, that he kept the manuscript by him a long time, and did not publish it till after the Traveller had appeared. Then, to be sure, it was accidentally worth more money."
Mrs. Piozzi
Anecdotes of Johnson, p. 119.
and Sir John Hawkins
Life of Johnson, p. 420.
have strangely mis-stated the history of Goldsmith's situation and Johnson's friendly interference, when this novel was sold. I shall give it authentically from Johnson's own exact narration:
"I received one morning a message from poor Goldsmith that he was in great distress, and, as it was not in his power to come to me, begging that I would come to him as soon as possible. I sent him a guinea, and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as soon as I was drest, and found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, at which he was in a violent passion. I perceived that he had already changed my guinea, and had got a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. I put the cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, and began to talk to him of the means by which he might be extricated. He then told me that he had a novel ready for the press, which he produced to me. I looked into it, and saw its merit; told the landlady I should soon return, and having gone to a bookseller, sold it for sixty pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he discharged his rent, not without rating his landlady in a high tone for having used him so ill
It may not be improper to annex here Mrs. Piozzi's account of this transaction, in her own words, as a specimen of the extreme inaccuracy with which all her anecdotes of Dr. Johnson are related, or rather discoloured and distorted.
"I have forgotten the year, but it could scarcely I think be later than 1765 or 1766, that he was
called abruptly from our house after dinner,
and returning
in about three hours,
said he had been with an enraged authour, whose landlady pressed him for payment within doors, while the bailiffs beset him without; that he was
drinking himself drunk
with Madeira, to drown care, and fretting over a novel, which, when
finished,
was to be his
whole fortune,
but
he could not get it done for distraction,
nor could he step out of doors to offer it for sale. Mr. Johnson, therefore, set away the bottle, and went to the bookseller, recommending the performance, and
desiring some immediate relief;
which when he brought back to the writer,
he called the woman of the house directly to partake of punch, and pass their time in merriment."
Anecdotes of Johnson, p. 119.
."
My next meeting with Johnson was on Friday the 1st of July, when he and I and Dr. Goldsmith supped together at the Mitre. I was before this time pretty well acquainted with Goldsmith, who was one of the brightest ornaments of the Johnsonian school. Goldsmith's respectful attachment to Johnson was then at its height; for his own literary reputation had not yet distinguished him so much as to excite a vain desire of competition with his great master. He had increased my admiration of the goodness of Johnson's heart, by incidental remarks in the course of conversation, such as, when I mentioned Mr. Levet, whom he entertained under his roof,
"He is poor and honest, which is recommendation enough to Johnson;"
and when I wondered that he was very kind to a man of whom I had heard a very bad character,
"He is now become miserable, and that insures the protection of Johnson."
Goldsmith attempted this evening to maintain, I suppose from an affectation of paradox, that knowledge was not desirable on its own account, for it often was a source of unhappiness. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, that knowledge may in some cases produce unhappiness, I allow. But, upon the whole, knowledge
per se
is certainly an object which every man would wish to attain, although, perhaps, he may not take the trouble necessary for attaining it."
Dr. John Campbell, the celebrated political and biographical writer, being mentioned, Johnson said,
"Campbell is a man of much knowledge, and has a good share of imagination. His 'Hermippus Redivivus' is very entertaining, as an account of the Hermetick philosophy, and as furnishing a curious history of the extravagancies of the human mind. If it were merely imaginary, it would be nothing at all. Campbell is not always rigidly careful of truth in his conversation; but I do not believe there is any thing of this carelessness in his books. Campbell is a good man, a pious man. I am afraid he has not been in the inside of a church for many years
I am inclined to think that he was misinformed as to this circumstance. I own I am jealous for my worthy friend Dr. John Campbell. For though Milton could without remorse absent himself from publick worship, I cannot. On the contrary, I have the same habitual impressions upon my mind, with those of a truly venerable Judge, who said to Mr. Langton,
"Friend Langton, if I have not been at church on Sunday, I do not feel myself easy."
Dr. Campbell was a sincerely religious man. Lord Macartney, who is eminent for his variety of knowledge, and attention to men of talents, and knew him well, told me, that when he called on him in a morning, he found him reading a chapter in the Greek New Testament, which he informed his Lordship was his constant practice. The quantity of Dr. Campbell's composition is almost incredible, and his labours brought him large profits. Dr. Joseph Warton told me that Johnson said of him,
"He is the richest authour that ever grazed the common of literature."
; but he never passes a church without pulling off his hat. This shews that he has good principles. I used to go pretty often to Campbell's on a Sunday evening, till I began to consider that the shoals of Scotchmen who flocked about him might probably say, when any thing of mine was well done, 'Ay, ay, he has learnt this of CAWMELL!"
He talked very contemptuously of Churchill's poetry, observing, that
"it had a temporary currency, only from its audacity of abuse, and being filled with living names, and that it would sink into oblivion."
I ventured to hint that he was not quite a fair judge, as Churchill had attacked him violently. JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, I am a very fair judge. He did not attack me violently till he found I did not like his poetry; and his attack on me shall not prevent me from continuing to say what I think of him, from an apprehension that it may be ascribed to resentment. No, Sir, I called the fellow a blockhead at first, and I will call him a blockhead still. However, I will acknowledge that I have a better opinion of him now, than I once had; for he has shewn more fertility than I expected. To be sure, he is a tree that cannot produce good fruit: he only bears crabs. But, Sir, a tree that produces a great many crabs is better than a tree which produces only a few."
In this depreciation of Churchill's poetry I could not agree with him. It is very true that the greatest part of it is upon the topicks of the day, on which account, as it brought him great fame and profit at the time, it must proportionally slide out of the publick attention as other occasional objects succeed. But Churchill had extraordinary vigour both of thought and expression. His portraits of the players will ever be valuable to the true lovers of the drama; and his strong caricatures of several eminent men of his age, will not be forgotten by the curious. Let me add, that there are in his works many passages which are of a general nature; and his
"Prophecy of Famine"
is a poem of no ordinary merit. It is, indeed, falsely injurious to Scotland; but therefore may be allowed a greater share of invention.
Bonnel Thornton had just published a burlesque
"Ode on St. Cecilia's day, adapted to the ancient British musick, viz. the salt-box, the Jew's-harp, the marrow-bones and cleaver, the hum-strum or hurdy-gurdy, &c."
Johnson praised its humour, and seemed much diverted with it. He repeated the following passage:
"In strains more exalted the salt-box shall join,
"And clattering and battering and clapping combine▪
"With a rap and a tap, while the hollow side sounds,
"Up and down leaps the flap, and with rattling rebounds."
I mentioned the periodical paper called THE CONNOISSEUR. He said it wanted matter.—No doubt it has not the deep thinking of Johnson's writings. But surely it has just views of the surface of life, and a very sprightly manner. His opinion of THE WORLD was not much higher than of the Connoisseur.
Let me here apologize for the imperfect manner in which I am obliged to exhibit Johnson's conversation at this period. In the early part of my acquaintance with him, I was so wrapt in admiration of his extraordinary colloquial talents, and so little accustomed to his peculiar mode of expression, that I found it extremely difficult to recollect and record his conversation with its genuine vigour and vivacity. In progress of time, when my mind was, at it were, strongly impregnated with the Johnsonian aether, I could, with much more facility and exactness, carry in my memory and commit to paper the exuberant variety of his wisdom and wit.
At this time Miss Williams, as she was then called, though she did not reside with him in the Temple under his roof, but had lodgings in Bolt-court, Fleet-street, had so much of his attention, that he every night drank tea with her before he went home, however late it might be, and she always sat up for him. This, it may be fairly conjectured, was not alone a proof of his regard for her, but of his own unwillingness to go into solitude before that unseasonable hour at which he had habituated himself to expect the oblivion of repose. Dr. Goldsmith, being a privileged man, went with him this night, strutting away, and calling to me with an air of superiority, like that of an esoterick over an exoterick disciple of a sage of antiquity,
"I go to Miss Williams."
I confess, I then envied him this mighty privilege, of which he seemed so proud; but it was not long before I obtained the same mark of distinction.
On Tuesday the 5th of July, I again visited Johnson. He told me he had looked into the poems of a certain pretty voluminous modern writer, which had lately come out, but could find no thinking in them. BOSWELL.
"Is there not imagination in them, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, there is in them what
was
imagination, but it is no more imagination in
him,
than sound is sound in the echo. And his diction too is not his own. We have long ago seen
whiterobed innocence,
and
flower-bespangled meads."
Talking of London, he observed,
"Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the shewy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crouded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists."
—I have often amused myself with thinking how different a place London is to different people. They, whose narrow minds are contracted to the consideration of some one particular pursuit, view it only through that medium. A politician thinks of it merely as the seat of government in its different departments; a grazier, as a vast market for cattle; a mercantile man, as a place where a prodigious deal of business is done upon 'Change; a dramatick enthusiast, as the grand scene of theatrical entertainments; a man of pleasure, as an assemblage of taverns, and the great emporium for ladies of easy virtue. But the intellectual man is struck with it, as comprehending the whole of human life in all its variety, the contemplation of which is inexhaustible.
On Wednesday, July 6, he was engaged to sup with me at my lodgings in Downing-street, Westminster. But on the preceding night my landlord having behaved very rudely to me and some company who were with me, I had resolved not to remain another night in his house. I was exceedingly uneasy at the aukward appearance I supposed I should make to Johnson and the other gentlemen whom I had invited, not being able to receive them at home, and being obliged to order supper at the Mitre. I went to Johnson in the morning, and talked of it as of a serious distress. He laughed, and said,
"Consider, Sir, how insignificant this will appear a twelvemonth hence."
—Were this consideration to be applied to most of the little vexatious incidents of life, by which our quiet is too often disturbed, it would prevent many painful sensations. I have tried it frequently, with good effect.
"There is nothing (continued he) in this mighty misfortune; nay, we shall be better at the Mitre."
I told him that I had been at Sir John Fielding's office, complaining of my landlord, and had been informed, that though I had taken my lodgings for a year, I might, upon proof of his bad behaviour, quit them when I pleased, without being under an obligation to pay rent for any longer time than while I possessed them. The fertility of Johnson's mind could shew itself even upon so small a matter as this.
"Why, Sir, (said he,) I suppose this must be the law, since you have been told so in Bow-street. But, if your landlord could hold you to your bargain, and the lodgings should be yours for a year, you may certainly use them as you think fit. So, Sir, you may quarter two life-guardmen upon him; or you may send the greatest scoundrel you can find into your apartments; or you may say that you want to make some experiments in natural philosophy, and may burn a large quantity of assafoetida in his house."
I cannot allow any fragment whatever that floats in my memory concerning the great subject of this work to be lost. Though a small particular may appear trifling to some, it will be relished by others, while every little spark adds something to the general blaze. And to please the true, candid, warm admirers of Johnson, and in any degree increase the splendour of his reputation, I bid defiance to the shafts of ridicule, or even of malignity; thousands of them have been discharged at my
"Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,"
yet it still sails unhurt
"along the stream of time,"
and as an attendant upon Johnson,—
"Pursues the triumph, and partakes the gale."
I had as my guests this evening at the Mitre tavern, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. Thomas Davies, Mr. Eccles, an Irish gentleman, for whose agreeable company I was obliged to Mr. Davies, and the Reverend Mr. Ogilvie, a Scotch clergyman, authour of several poems, who was very desirous of being in company with my illustrious friend, while I, in my turn, was proud to have the honour of shewing one of my countrymen upon what easy terms Johnson permitted me to live with him.
Goldsmith, as usual, endeavoured, with too much eagerness, to shine, and disputed very warmly with Johnson against the well-known maxim of the British constitution,
"the King can do no wrong;"
affirming, that
"what was morally false could not be politically true; and as the King might, in the exercise of his regal power, command and cause the doing of what was wrong, it certainly might be said, in sense and in reason, that he could do wrong."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, you are to consider, that in our constitution, according to its true principles, the King is the head; he is supreme; he is above every thing, and there is no power by which he can be tried. Therefore it is, Sir, that we hold the King can do no wrong, that whatever may happen to be wrong in government may not be above our reach, by being ascribed to Majesty. Redress is always to be had against oppression, by punishing the immediate agents. The King, though he should command, cannot force a Judge to condemn a man unjustly; therefore it is the Judge whom we prosecute and punish. Political institutions are formed upon the consideration of what will most frequently tend to the good of the whole, although now and then exceptions may occur. Thus it is better in general that a nation should have a supreme legislative power, although it may at times be abused. And then, Sir, there is this consideration, that
if the abuse be enormous, Nature will rise up, and claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system."
I mark this animated sentence with peculiar pleasure, as a noble instance of that truly dignified spirit of freedom which ever glowed in his heart, though he was charged with slavish tenets by superficial observers, because he was at all times indignant against that false patriotism, that pretended love of freedom, that unruly restlessness, which is inconsistent with the stable authority of any good government.
This generous sentiment, which he uttered with great fervour, struck me exceedingly, and stirred my blood to that pitch of fancied resistance, the possibility of which I am glad to keep in mind, but to which I trust I never shall be forced.
"Great abilities (said he) are not requisite for an Historian; for in Historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts ready to his hand; so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is not required in any high degree; only about as much as is used in the lower kinds of poetry. Some penetration, accuracy, and colouring will fit a man for the task, if he can give the application which is necessary."
"Bayle's Dictionary is a very useful work for those to consult who love the biographical part of literature, which is what I love most."
Talking of the eminent writers in Queen Anne's reign, he observed,
"I think Dr. Arbuthnot the first man among them. He was the most universal genius, being an excellent physician, a man of deep learning, and a man of much humour. Mr. Addison was, to be sure, a great man; his learning was not profound; but his morality, his humour, and his elegance of writing, set him very high."
Mr. Ogilvie was unlucky enough to choose for the topick of his conversation the praises of his native country. He began with saying, that there was very rich land round Edinburgh. Goldsmith, who had studied physick there, contradicted this, very untruly, with a sneering laugh. Disconcerted a little by this, Mr. Ogilvie then took new ground, where, I suppose, he thought himself perfectly safe; for he observed, that Scotland had a great many noble wild prospects. JOHNSON.
"I believe, Sir, you have a great many. Norway, too, has noble wild prospects; and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. But, Sir, let me tell you, the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!"
This unexpected and pointed sally produced a roar of applause. After all, however, those, who admire the rude grandeur of Nature, cannot deny it to Caledonia.
On Saturday, July 9, I found Johnson surrounded with a numerous levee, but have not preserved any part of his conversation. On the 14th we had another evening by ourselves at the Mitre. It happening to be a very rainy night, I made some common-place observations on the relaxation of nerves and depression of spirits which such weather occasioned; adding▪ however, that it was good for the vegetable creation. Johnson, who, as we have already seen, denied that the temperature of the air had any influence on the human frame, answered, with a smile of ridicule,
"Why yes, Sir, it is good for vegetables, and for the animals who eat those animals."
This observation of his aptly enough introduced a good supper; and I soon forgot, in Johnson's company, the influence of a moist atmosphere.
Feeling myself now quite at ease as his companion, though I had all possible reverence for him, I expressed a regret that I could not be so easy with my father, though he was not much older than him, and certainly had not more learning and greater abilities to depress me. I asked him the reason of this. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I am a man of the world. I live in the world, and I take, in some degree, the colour of the world as it moves along. Your father is a Judge in a remote part of the island, and all his notions are taken from the old world. Besides, Sir, there must always be a struggle between a father and son, while one aims at power and the other at independence."
I said, I was afraid my father would force me to be a lawyer. JOHNSON.
"Sir, you need not be afraid of his forcing you to be a laborious practising lawyer; that is not in his power. For as the proverb says, 'One man may lead a horse to the water, but twenty cannot make him drink.' He may be displeased that you are not what he wishes you to be; but that displeasure will not go far. If he insists only on your having as much law as is necessary for a man of property, and then endeavours to get you into Parliament, he is quite in the right."
He enlarged very convincingly upon the excellence of rhyme over blank verse in English poetry. I mentioned to him that Dr. Adam Smith, in his lectures upon composition, when I studied under him in the College of Glasgow, had maintained the same opinion strenuously, and I repeated some of his arguments. JOHNSON.
"Sir, I was once in company with Smith, and we did not take to each other; but had I known that he loved rhyme as much as you tell me he does, I should have HUGGED him."
Talking of those who denied the truth of Christianity, he said,
"It is always easy to be on the negative side. If a man were now to deny that there is salt upon the table, you could not reduce him to an absurdity. Come, let us try this a little further. I deny that Canada is taken, and I can support my denial by pretty good arguments. The French are a much more numerous people than we; and it is not likely that they would allow us to take it. 'But the ministry have assured us, in all the formality of the Gazette, that it is taken.'—Very true. But the ministry have put us to an enormous expence by the war in America, and it is their interest to persuade us that we have got something for our money.—'But the fact is confirmed by thousands of men who were at the taking of it.'—Ay, but these men have still more interest in deceiving us. They don't want you should think the French have beat them, but that they have beat the French. Now suppose you should go over and find that it is really taken, that would only satisfy yourself; for when you come home we will not believe you. We will say you have been bribed.—Yet, Sir, notwithstanding all these plausible objections, we have no doubt that Canada is really ours. Such is the weight of common testimony. How much stronger are the evidences of the Christian religion?"
"Idleness is a disease which must be combated; but I would not advise a rigid adherence to a particular plan of study. I myself have never persisted in any plan for two days together. A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good. A young man should read five hours in a day, and so may acquire a great deal of knowledge."
To a man of vigourous intellect and ardent curiosity like his own, reading without a regular plan may be beneficial; though even such a man must submit to it, if he would attain a full understanding of any of the sciences.
To such a degree of unrestrained frankness had he now accustomed me, that in the course of this evening I talked of the numerous reflections which had been thrown out against him on account of his having accepted a pension from his present Majesty.
"Why, Sir, (said he, with a hearty laugh,) it is a mighty foolish noise that they make
When I mentioned the same idle clamour to him several years afterwards, he said, with a smile,
"I wish my pension were twice as large, that they might make twice as much noise."
. I have accepted of a pension as a reward which has been thought due to my literary merit; and now that I have this pension, I am the same man in every respect that I have ever been; I retain the same principles. It is true, that I cannot now curse (smiling) the house of Hanover; nor would it be decent for me to drink King James's health in the wine that King George gives me money to pay for. But, Sir, I think that the pleasure of cursing the house of Hanover, and drinking King James's health, are amply overbalanced by three hundred pounds a year."
There was here, most certainly, an affectation of more Jacobitism than he really had, and indeed an intention of admitting, for the moment, in a much greater extent than it really existed, the charge of disaffection imputed to him by the world, merely for the purpose of shewing how dexterously he could repel an attack, even though he were placed in the most disadvantageous position; for I have heard him declare, that if holding up his right hand would have secured victory at Culloden to Prince Charles's army, he was not sure he would have held it up; so little confidence had he in the right claimed by the house of Stuart, and so fearful was he of the consequences of another revolution on the throne of Great-Britain; and Mr. Topham Beauclerk assured me, he had heard him say this before he had his pension. At another time he said to Mr. Langton,
"Nothing has ever offered that has made it worth my while to consider the question fully."
He, however, also said to the same gentleman, talking of King James the Second,
"It was become impossible for him to reign any longer in this country."
He no doubt had an early attachment to the house of Stuart; but his zeal had cooled as his reason strengthened. Indeed I heard him once say, that
"after the death of a violent Whig, with whom he used to contend with great eagerness, he felt his Toryism much abated
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 402.
."
I suppose he meant Mr. Walmsley.
He advised me, when abroad, to be as much as I could with the Professors in the Universities, and with the Clergy; for from their conversation I might expect the best accounts of every thing in whatever country I should be, with the additional advantage of keeping my learning alive.
It will be observed, that when giving me advice as to my travels, Dr. Johnson did not dwell upon cities, and palaces, and pictures, and shews, and Arcadian scenes. He was of Lord Essex's opinion, who advises his kinsman Roger Earl of Rutland,
"rather to go an hundred miles to speak with one wise man, than five miles to see a fair town
Letter to Rutland on Travel, 1596.
."
I described to him an impudent fellow from Scotland, who affected to be a savage, and railed at all established systems. JOHNSON.
"There is nothing surprizing in this, Sir. He wants to make himself conspicuous. He would tumble in a hog-stye, as long as you looked at him and called to him to come out. But let him alone, never mind him, and he'll soon give it over."
I added, that the same person maintained that there was no distinction between virtue and vice. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, if the fellow does not think as he speaks, he is lying; and I see not what honour he can propose to himself from having the character of a lyar. But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses, let us count our spoons."
Sir David Dalrymple, now one of the Judges of Scotland by the title of Lord Hailes, had contributed much to increase my high opinion of Johnson, on account of his writings, long before I attained to a personal acquaintance with him; I, in return, had informed Johnson of Sir David's eminent character for learning and religion; and Johnson was so much pleased, that at one of our evening meetings he gave him for his toast. I at this time kept up a very frequent correspondence with Sir David; and I read to Dr. Johnson to-night the following passage from the letter which I had last received from him:
"It gives me pleasure to think that you have obtained the friendship of Mr. Samuel Johnson. He is one of the best moral writers which England has produced. At the same time, I envy you the free and undisguised converse with such a man. May I beg you to present my best respects to him, and to assure him of the veneration which I entertain for the authour of the Rambler and of Rasselas? Let me recommend this last work to you; with the Rambler you certainly are acquainted. In Rasselas you will see a tender-hearted operator, who probes the wound only to heal it. Swift, on the contrary, mangles human nature. He cuts and slashes, as if he took pleasure in the operation, like the tyrant who said,
Ita feri ut se sentiat emori."
Johnson seemed to be much gratified by this just and well-turned compliment.
He recommended to me to keep a journal of my life, full and unreserved. He said it would be a very good exercise, and would yield me great satisfaction when the particulars were faded from my remembrance. I was uncommonly fortunate in having had a previous coincidence of opinion with him upon this subject, for I had kept such a journal for some time; and it was no small pleasure to me to have this to tell him, and to receive his approbation. He counselled me to keep it private, and said I might surely have a friend who would burn it in case of my death. From this habit I have been enabled to give the world so many anecdotes, which would otherwise have been lost to posterity. I mentioned that I was afraid I put into my journal too many little incidents. JOHNSON.
"There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible."
Next morning Mr. Dempster happened to call on me, and was so much struck even with the imperfect account which I gave him of Dr. Johnson's conversation, that to his honour be it recorded, when I complained that drinking port and sitting up late with him, affected my nerves for some time after, he said,
"One had better be palsied at eighteen, than not keep company with such a man."
On Tuesday, July 18, I found tall Sir Thomas Robinson sitting with Johnson. Sir Thomas said, that the King of Prussia valued himself upon three things;—upon being a hero, a musician, and an authour. JOHNSON.
"Pretty well, Sir, for one man. As to his being an authour, I have not looked at his poetry; but his prose is poor stuff. He writes just as you might suppose Voltaire's footboy to do, who has been his amanuensis. He has such parts as the valet might have, and about as much of the colouring of the style as might be got by transcribing his works."
When I was at Ferney, I repeated this to Voltaire, in order to reconcile him somewhat to Johnson, whom he, in affecting the English mode of expression, had previously characterised as
"a superstitious dog;"
but after hearing such a criticism on Frederick the Great, with whom he was then on bad terms, he exclaimed,
"An honest fellow!"
But I think the criticism much too severe; for the
"Memoirs of the House of Brandenburgh"
are written as well as many works of that kind. His poetry, for the style of which he himself makes a frank apology,
"Jargonnant un François barbare,"
though fraught with pernicious ravings of infidelity, has, in many places, great animation, and in some a pathetick tenderness.
Upon this contemptuous animadversion on the King of Prussia, I observed to Johnson,
"It would seem then, Sir, that much less parts are necessary to make a King, than to make an Authour; for the King of Prussia is confessedly the greatest King now in Europe, yet you think he makes a very poor figure as an Authour."
Mr. Levet this day shewed me Dr. Johnson's library, which was contained in two garrets over his Chambers, where Lintot, son of the celebrated bookseller of that name, had formerly his printing-house. I found a number of good books, but very dusty and in great confusion. The floor was strewed with manuscript leaves, in Johnson's own hand-writing, which I beheld with a degree of veneration, supposing they perhaps might contain portions of the Rambler, or of Rasselas. I observed an apparatus for chymical experiments, of which Johnson was all his life very fond. The place seemed to be very favourable for retirement and meditation. Johnson told me, that he went up thither without mentioning it to his servant, when he wanted to study, secure from interruption; for he would not allow his servant to say he was not at home when he really was.
"A servant's strict regard for truth, (said he) must be weakened by such a practice. A philosopher may know that it is merely a form of denial; but few servants are such nice distinguishers. If I accustom a servant to tell a lye for
me,
have I not reason to apprehend that he will tell many lies for
himself?"
I am, however, satisfied that every servant, of any degree of intelligence, understands saying his master is not at home, not at all as the affirmation of a fact, but as customary words, intimating that his master wishes not to be seen; so that there can be no bad effect from it.
Mr. Temple, now vicar of St. Gluvias, Cornwall, who had been my intimate friend for many years, had at this time chambers in Farrar's-buildings, at the bottom of Inner Temple-lane, which he kindly lent me upon my quitting my lodgings, he being to return to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. I found them particularly convenient for me, as they were so near Dr. Johnson's.
On Wednesday, July 20, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Dempster, and my uncle Dr. Boswell, who happened to be now in London, supped with me at these Chambers. JOHNSON.
"Pity is not natural to man. Children are always cruel. Savages are always cruel. Pity is acquired and improved by the cultivation of reason. We may have uneasy sensations from seeing a creature in distress, without pity; for we have not pity unless we wish to relieve them. When I am on my way to dine with a friend, and finding it late, have bid the coachman make haste, if I happen to attend when he whips his horses, I may feel unpleasantly that the animals are put to pain, but I do not wish him to desist. No, Sir, I wish him to drive on."
Mr. Alexander Donaldson, bookseller of Edinburgh, had for some time opened a shop in London, and sold his cheap editions of the most popular English books, in defiance of the supposed common-law right of
Literary Property.
Johnson, though he concurred in the opinion which was afterwards sanctioned by a decree from the House of Lords, that there was no such right, was at this time very angry that the booksellers of London, for whom he uniformly professed much regard, should suffer from an invasion of what they had ever considered to be secure, and he was loud and violent against Mr. Donaldson.
"He is a fellow who takes advantage of the law to injure his brethren; for, notwithstanding that the statute secures only fourteen years of exclusive right, it has always been understood by the trade, that he, who buys the copy-right of a book from the authour, obtains a perpetual property; and upon that belief, numberless bargains are made to transfer that property after the expiration of the statutory term. Now Donaldson, I say, takes advantage here, of people who have really an equitable title from usage; and if we consider how few of the books, of which they buy the property, succeed so well as to bring profit, we should be of opinion that the term of fourteen years is too short; it should be sixty years."
DEMPSTER.
"Donaldson, Sir, is anxious for the encouragement of literature. He reduces the price of books, so that poor students may buy them."
JOHNSON, (laughing.)
"Well, Sir, allowing that to be his motive, he is no better than Robin Hood, who robbed the rich in order to give to the poor."
It is remarkable, that when the great question concerning Literary Property came to be ultimately tried before the supreme tribunal of this country, in consequence of the very spirited exertions of Mr. Donaldson, Dr. Johnson was zealous against a perpetuity; but he thought that the term of the exclusive right of authours should be considerably enlarged. He was then for granting a hundred years.
The conversation now turned upon Mr. David Hume's style. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, his style is not English; the structure of his sentences is French. Now the French structure and the English structure may, in the nature of things, be equally good. But if you allow that the English language is established, he is wrong. My name might originally have been Nicholson, as well as Johnson; but were you to call me Nicholson now, you would call me very absurdly."
Rousseau's treatise on the inequality of mankind was at this time a fashionable topick. It gave rise to an observation by Mr. Dempster, that the advantages of fortune and rank were nothing to a wise man, who ought to value only merit. JOHNSON.
"If man were a savage, living in the woods by himself, this might be true; but in civilised society we all depend upon each other, and our happiness is very much owing to the good opinion of mankind. Now, Sir, in civilised society, external advantages make us more respected. A man with a good coat upon his back meets with a better reception than he who has a bad one. Sir, you may analyse this, and say what is there in it? But that will avail you nothing, for it is a part of a general system. Pound St. Paul's church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is, to be sure, good for nothing: but, put all these atoms together, and you have St. Paul's church. So it is with human felicity, which is made up of many ingredients, each of which may be shewn to be very insignificant. In civilised society, personal merit will not serve you so much as money will. Sir, you may make the experiment. Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you most. If you wish only to support nature, Sir William Petty fixes your allowance at three pounds a year; but as times are much altered, let us call it six pounds. This sum will fill your belly, shelter you from the weather, and even get you a strong lasting coat, supposing it to be made of good bull's hide. Now, Sir, all beyond this is artificial, and is desired in order to obtain a greater degree of respect from our fellow-creatures. And, Sir, if six hundred pounds a year procure a man more consequence, and, of course, more happiness than six pounds a year, the same proportion will hold as to six thousand, and so on as far as opulence can be carried. Perhaps he who has a large fortune may not be so happy as he who has a small one; but that must proceed from other causes than from his having the large fortune: for,
caeteris paribus,
he who is rich in a civilized society, must be happier than he who is poor; as riches, if properly used, (and it is a man's own fault if they are not,) must be productive of the highest advantages. Money, to be sure, of itself is of no use; for its only use is to part with it. Rousseau, and all those who deal in paradoxes, are led away by a childish desire of novelty. When I was a boy, I used always to choose the wrong side of a debate, because most ingenious things, that is to say, most new things, could be said upon it. Sir, there is nothing for which you may not muster up more plausible arguments, than those which are urged against wealth and other external advantages. Why now, there is stealing; why should it be thought a crime? When we consider by what unjust methods property has been often acquired, and that what was unjustly got it must be unjust to keep, where is the harm in one man's taking the property of another from him? Besides, Sir, when we consider the bad use that many people make of their property, and how much better use the thief may make of it, it may be defended as a very allowable practice. Yet, Sir, the experience of mankind has discovered stealing to be so very bad a thing, that they make no scruple to hang a man for it. When I was running about this town a very poor fellow, I was a great arguer for the advantages of poverty; but I was, at the same time, very sorry to be poor. Sir, all the arguments which are brought to represent poverty as no evil, shew it to be evidently a great evil. You never find people labouring to convince you that you may live very happily upon a plentiful fortune.—So you hear people talking how miserable a king must be; and yet they all wish to be in his place."
It was suggested that kings must be unhappy, because they are deprived of the greatest of all satisfactions, easy and unreserved society. JOHNSON.
"That is an ill-founded notion. Being a king does not exclude a man from such society. Great kings have always been social. The King of Prussia, the only great king at present, is very social. Charles the Second, the last King of England who was a man of parts, was social; and our Henrys and Edwards were all social."
Mr. Dempster having endeavoured to maintain that intrinsick merit
ought
to make the only distinction amongst mankind. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, mankind have found that this cannot be. How shall we determine the proportion os intrinsick merit? Were that to be the only distinction amongst mankind, we should soon quarrel about the degrees of it. Were all distinctions abolished, the strongest would not long acquiesce, but would endeavour to obtain a
uperiority by their bodily strength. But, Sir, as subordination is very necessary for society, and contentions for superiority very dangerous, mankind, that is to say all civilised nations, have settled it upon a plain invariable principle. A man is born to hereditary rank; or his being appointed to certain offices, gives him a certain rank. Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure."
I said, I considered distinction of rank to be of so much importance in civilised society, that if I were asked on the same day to dine with the first duke in England, and with the first man in Britain for genius, I should hesitate which to prefer. JOHNSON.
"To be sure, Sir, if you were to dine only once, and it were never to be known where you dined, you would choose rather to dine with the first man for genius; but to gain most respect, you should dine with the first duke in England. For nine people in ten that you meet with, would have a higher opinion of you for having dined with a duke; and the great genius himself would receive you better, because you had been with the great duke."
He took care to guard himself against any possible suspicion that his settled principles of reverence for rank and respect for wealth were at all owing to mean or interested motives; for he asserted his own independence as a literary man.
"No man (said he) who ever lived by literature, has lived more independently than I have done."
He said he had taken longer time than he needed to have done in composing his Dictionary. He received our compliments upon that great work with complacency, and told us that the Academy
della Crusca
could scarcely believe that it was done by one man.
Next morning I found him alone, and have preserved the following fragments of his conversation. Of a gentleman who was mentioned, he said,
"I have not met with any man for a long time who has given me such general displeasure. He is totally unfixed in his principles, and wants to puzzle other people."
I said, his principles had been poisoned by a noted infidel writer, but that he was, nevertheless, a benevolent good man. JOHNSON.
"We can have no dependance upon that instinctive, that constitutional goodness which is not founded upon principle. I grant you that such a man may be a very amiable member of society. I can conceive him placed in such a situation that he is not much tempted to deviate from what is right; and as every man prefers virtue when there is not some strong incitement to transgress its precepts, I can conceive him doing nothing wrong. But if such a man stood in need of money, I should not like to trust him; and I should certainly not trust him with young ladies, for
there
there is always temptation. Hume, and other sceptical innovators, are vain men, and will gratify themselves at any expence. Truth will not afford sufficient food to their vanity; so they have betaken themselves to errour. Truth, Sir, is a cow which will yield such people no more milk, and so they are gone to milk the bull. If I could have allowed myself to gratify my vanity at the expence of truth, what fame might I have acquired. Every thing which Hume has advanced against Christianity had passed through my mind long before he wrote. Always remember this, that after a system is well settled upon positive evidence, a few partial objections ought not to shake it. The human mind is so limited, that it cannot take in all the parts of a subject, so that there may be objections raised against any thing. There are objections against a
plenum,
and objections against a
vacuum;
yet one of them must certainly be true."
I mentioned Hume's argument against the belief of miracles, that it is more probable that the witnesses to the truth of them are mistaken, or speak falsely, than that the miracles should be true. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, the great difficulty of proving miracles should make us very cautious in believing them. But let us consider; although GOD has made Nature to operate by certain fixed laws, yet it is not unreasonable to think that he may suspend those laws, in order to establish a system highly advantageous to mankind. Now the Christian religion is a most beneficial system, as it gives us light and certainty where we were before in darkness and doubt. The miracles which prove it are attested by men who had no interest in deceiving us; but who, on the contrary, were told that they should suffer persecution, and did▪ actually lay down their lives in confirmation of the truth of the facts which they asserted. Indeed, for some centuries the heathens did not pretend to deny the miracles; but said they were performed by the aid of evil spirits. This is a circumstance of great weight. Then, Sir, when we take the proofs derived from prophecies which have been so exactly fulfilled, we have most satisfactory evidence. Supposing a miracle possible, as to which, in my opinion, there can be no doubt, we have as strong evidence for the miracles in support of Christianity, as the nature of the thing admits."
At night, Mr. Johnson and I supped in a private room at the Turk's Head coffee-house, in the Strand.
"I encourage this house (said he); for the mistress of it is a good civil woman, and has not much business."
"Sir, I love the acquaintance of young people; because, in the first place, I don't like to think myself growing old. In the next place, young acquaintances must last longest, if they do last; and then, Sir, young men have more virtue than old men; they have more generous sentiments in every respect. I love the young dogs of this age: they have more with and humour and knowledge of life than we had; but then the dogs are not so good scholars. Sir, in my early years I read very hard. It is a sad reflection, but a true one, that I knew almost as much at eighteen as I do now. My judgement, to be sure, was not so good; but, I had all the facts. I remember very well, when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me, 'Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge; for when years come upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task."
This account of his reading, given by himself in plain words, sufficiently confirms what I have already advanced upon the disputed question as to his application. It reconciles any seeming inconsistency in his way of talking upon it at different times; and shews that idleness and reading hard were with him relative terms, the import of which, as used by him, must be gathered from a comparison with what scholars of different degrees of ardour and assiduity have been known to do. And let it be remembered, that he was now talking spontaneously, and expressing his genuine sentiments; whereas at other times he might be induced from his spirit of contradiction, or more properly from his love of argumentative contest, to speak lightly of his own application to study. It is pleasing to consider that the old gentleman's gloomy prophecy as to the irksomeness of books to men of an advanced age, which is too often fulfilled, was so far from being verified in Johnson, that his ardour for literature never failed, and his last writings had more ease and vivacity than any of his earlier productions.
He mentioned to me now, for the first time, that he had been distrest by melancholy, and for that reason had been obliged to fly from study and meditation, to the dissipating variety of life. Against melancholy he recommended constant occupation of mind, a great deal of exercise, moderation in eating and drinking, and especially to shun drinking at night. He said melancholy people were apt to fly to intemperance for relief, but that it sunk them much deeper in misery. He observed, that labouring men who work hard, and live sparingly, are seldom or never troubled with low spirits.
He again insisted on the duty of maintaining subordination of rank.
"Sir, I would no more deprive a nobleman of his respect, than of his money. I consider myself as acting a part in the great system of society, and I do to others as I would have them to do to me. I would behave to a nobleman as I should expect he would behave to me, were I a nobleman and he Sam. Johnson. Sir, there is one Mrs. Macaulay
This
one
Mrs. Macaulay was the same personage who afterwards made herself so much known as
"the celebrated female historian."
in this town, a great republican. One day when I was at her house, I put on a very grave countenance, and said to her, 'Madam, I am now become a convert to your way of thinking. I am convinced that all mankind are upon an equal footing; and to give you an unquestionable proof, Madam, that I am in earnest, here is a very sensible, civil, well-behaved fellow-citizen, your footman; I desire that he may be allowed to sit down and dine with us.' I thus, Sir, shewed her the absurdity of the levelling doctrine. She has never liked me since. Sir, your levellers wish to level
down
as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling
up
to themselves. They would all have some people under them; why not then have some people above them?"
I mentioned a certain authour who disgusted me by his forwardness, and by shewing no deference to noblemen into whose company he was admitted. JOHNSON.
"Suppose a shoemaker should claim an equality with him as he does with a Lord; how would he stare. 'Why, Sir, do you stare? (says the shoemaker,) I do great service to society. 'Tis true, I am paid for doing it; but so are you, Sir: and I am sorry to say it, better paid than I am, for doing something not so necessary. For mankind could do better without your books, than without my shoes.' Thus, Sir, there would be a perpetual struggle for precedence, were there no fixed invariable rules for the distinction of rank, which creates no jealousy, as it is allowed to be accidental."
He said, Dr. Joseph Warton was a very agreeable man, and his
"Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope,"
a very pleasing book. I wondered that he delayed so long to give us the continuation of it. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I suppose he finds himself a little disappointed, in not having been able to persuade the world to be of his opinion as to Pope."
We have now been favoured with the concluding volume, in which, to use a parliamentary expression, he has
explained,
so as not to appear quite so adverse to the opinion of the world concerning Pope, as was at first thought; and we must all agree, that his work is a most valuable accession to English literature.
A writer of deserved eminence being mentioned, Johnson said,
"Why, Sir, he is a man of good parts, but being originally poor, he has got a love of mean company and low jocularity; a very bad thing, Sir. To laugh is good, as to talk is good. But you ought no more to think it enough if you laugh, than you are to think it enough if you talk. You may laugh in as many ways as you talk; and surely
every
way of talking that is practised cannot be esteemed."
I spoke of Sir James Macdonald as a young man of most distinguished merit, who united the highest reputation at Eton and Oxford, with the patriarchal spirit of a great Highland Chieftain. I mentioned that Sir James had said to me, that he had never seen Mr. Johnson, but he had a great respect for him, though at the same time it was mixed with some degree of terrour. JOHNSON.
"Sir, if he were to be acquainted with me, it might lessen both."
The mention of this gentleman led us to talk of the Western Islands of Scotland, to visit which he expressed a wish that then appeared to me a very romantick fancy, which I little thought would be afterwards realized. He told me, that his father had put Martin's account of those islands into his hands when he was very young, and that he was highly pleased with it; that he was particularly struck with the St. Kilda man's notion that the high church of Glasgow had been hollowed out of a rock; a circumstance to which old Mr. Johnson had directed his attention. He said, he would go to the Hebrides with me, when I returned from my travels, unless some very good companion should offer when I was absent, which he did not think probable; adding,
"There are few people to whom I take so much to as you."
And when I talked of my leaving England, he said, with a very affectionate air,
"My dear Boswell, I should be very unhappy at parting, did I think we were not to meet again."
—I cannot too often remind my readers, that although such instances of his kindness are doubtless very flattering to me, yet I hope my recording them will be ascribed to a better motive than to vanity; for they afford unquestionable evidence of his tenderness and complacency, which some, while they were forced to acknowledge his great powers, have been so strenuous to deny.
He maintained, that a boy at school was the happiest of human beings. I supported a different opinion, from which I have never yet varied, that a man is happier; and I enlarged upon the anxiety and sufferings which are endured at school. JOHNSON.
"Ah! Sir, a boy's being flogged is not so severe as a man's having the hiss of the world against him. Men have a solicitude about fame; and the greater share they have of it, the more afraid they are of losing it."
I silently asked myself,
"Is it possible that the great Samuel Johnson really entertains any such apprehension, and is not confident that his exalted fame is established upon a foundation never to be shaken?"
He this evening drank a bumper to Sir David Dalrymple, as a man of worth, a scholar, and a wit.—
"I have (said he) never heard of him except from you; but let him know my opinion of him: for as he does not shew himself much in the world, he should have the praise of the few who hear of him."
On Tuesday, July 26, I found Mr. Johnson alone. It was a very wet day, and I again complained of the disagreeable effects of such weather. JOHNSON.
"Sir, this is all imagination, which physicians encourage; for man lives in air, as a fish lives in water; so that if the atmosphere press heavy from above, there is an equal resistance from below. To be sure, bad weather is hard upon people who are obliged to be abroad; and men cannot labour so well in the open air in bad weather, as in good: but, Sir, a smith or a tailor, whose work is within doors, will surely do as much in rainy weather as in fair. Some very delicate frames, indeed, may be affected by wet weather, but not common constitutions."
We talked of the education of children; and I asked him what he thought was best to teach them first. JOHNSON.
"Sir, it is no matter what you teach them first, any more than what leg you shall put into your breeches first. Sir, you may stand disputing which is best to put in first, but in the mean time your breech is bare. Sir, while you are considering which of two things you should teach your child first, another boy has learnt them both."
On Thursday, July 28, we again supped in private at the Turk's Head coffee-house. JOHNSON.
"Swift has a higher reputation than he deserves. His excellence is strong sense; for his humour, though very well, is not remarkably good. I doubt whether the 'Tale of a Tub' be his; for he never owned it, and it is much above his usual manner
This opinion was given by him more at large at a subsequent period. See
"Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,"
3d edit. p. 32.
."
"Thomson, I think, had as much of the poet about him as most writers. Every thing appeared to him through the medium of his favourite pursuit. He could not have viewed those two candles burning but with a poetical eye."
"Has not—a great deal of wit, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"I do not think so, Sir. He is, indeed, continually attempting wit, but he fails. And I have no more pleasure in hearing a man attempting wit and failing, than in seeing a man trying to leap over a ditch and tumbling into it."
He laughed heartily, when I mentioned to him a saying of his concerning Mr. Thomas Sheridan, which Foote took a wicked pleasure to circulate.
"Why, Sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an excess of stupidity, Sir, is not in Nature."
—
"So (said he,) I allowed him all his own merit."
He now added,
"Sheridan cannot bear me. I bring his declamation to a point. I ask him a plain question, 'What do you mean to teach?' Besides, Sir, what influence can Mr. Sheridan have upon the language of this great country by his narrow exertions. Sir, it is burning a farthing candle at Dover, to shew light at Calais."
Talking of a young man who was uneasy from thinking that he was very deficient in learning and knowledge, he said,
"A man has no reason to complain who holds a middle place and has many below him; and perhaps he has not six of his years above him;—perhaps not one. Though he may not know any thing perfectly, the general mass of knowledge that he has acquired is considerable. Time will do for him all that is wanting."
The conversation then took a philosophical turn. JOHNSON.
"Human experience, which is constantly contradicting theory, is the great test of truth. A system, built upon the discoveries of a great many minds, is always of more strength, than what is produced by the mere workings of any one mind, which, of itself, can do little. There is not so poor a book in the world but what would be a prodigious effort were it wrought out entirely by a single mind, without the aid of prior investigators. The French writers are superficial, because they are not scholars, and so proceed upon the mere power of their own minds; and we see how very little power they have."
"As to the Christian religion, Sir, besides the strong evidence which we have for it, there is a balance in its favour from the number of great men who have been convinced of its truth, after a serious consideration of the question. Grotius was an acute man, a lawyer, a man accustomed to examine evinence, and he was convinced. Grotius was not a recluse, but a man of the world, who certainly had no bias to the side of religion. Sir Isaac Newton set out an infidel, and came to be a very firm believer."
He this evening again recommended to me to perambulate Spain
I fully intended to have followed advice of such weight; but having staid much longer both in Germany and Italy than I proposed to do, and having also visited Corsica, I found that I had exceeded the time allowed me by my father, and hastened to France in my way homewards.
. I said it would amuse him to get a letter from me dated at Salamancha. JOHNSON.
"I love the University of Salamancha; for when the Spaniards were in doubt as to the lawfulness of their conquering America, the University of Salamancha gave it as their opinion that it was not lawful."
He spoke this with great emotion, and with that generous warmth which dictated the lines in his
"London,"
against Spanish encroachment.
I expressed my opinion of my friend Derrick as but a poor writer. JOHNSON.
"To be sure, Sir, he is; but you are to consider that his being a literary man has got for him all that he has. It has made him King of Bath. Sir, he has nothing to say for himself but that he is a writer. Had he not been a writer, he must have been sweeping the crossings in the streets, and asking halfpence from every body that past."
In justice, however, to the memory of Mr. Derrick, who was my first tutor in the ways of London, and shewed me the town in its variety of departments, both literary and sportive, the particulars of which Dr. Johnson advised me to put in writing, it is proper to mention what Johnson, at a subsequent period, said of him both as a writer and an editor.
"Sir, I have often said, that if Derrick's letters had been written by one of a more established name, they would have been thought very pretty letters
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 104.
."
And,
"I sent Derrick to Dryden's relations to gather materials for his life; and I believe he got all that I myself should have got
Ibid. p. 142.
."
Poor Derrick! I remember him with kindness. Yet I cannot with-hold from my readers a pleasant humourous sally which could not have hurt him had he been alive, and now is perfectly harmless. In his collection of poems, there is one upon entering the harbour of Dublin, his native city, after a long absence. It begins thus:
"Eblana! much lov'd city, hail!
"Where first I saw the light of day."
And after a solemn reflection on his being
"numbered with forgotten dead,"
there is the following stanza:
"Unless my lines protract my fame,
"And those, who chance to read them, cry,
"I knew him! Derrick was his name,
"In yonder tomb his ashes lie."
Which was thus happily parodied by Mr. John Home, to whom we owe the beautiful and pathetick tragedy of
"Douglas:"
"Unless my
deeds
protract my fame,
"And he who passes sadly sings,
"I knew him! Derrick was his name,
"On yonder tree his carcase swings!"
I doubt much whether the amiable and ingenious authour of these burlesque lines will recollect them, for they were produced extempore one evening while he and I were walking together in the dining-room at Eglintoune castle, in 1760, and I have never mentioned them to him since.
Johnson said once to me,
"Sir, I honour Derrick for his presence of mind. One night, when Floyd
He published a biographical work, containing an account of eminent writers, in three vols. 8vo.
, another poor authour, was wandering about the streets in the night, he found Derrick fast asleep upon a bulk; upon being suddenly waked, Derrick started up, 'My dear Floyd, I am sorry to see you in this destitute state; will you go home with me to
my lodgings?"
I again begged his advice as to my method of study at Utrecht.
"Come, (said he) let us make a day of it. Let us go down to Greenwich and dine, and talk of it there."
The following Saturday was fixed for this excursion.
As we walked along the Strand to-night, arm in arm, a woman of the town accosted us, in the usual enticing manner.
"No, no, my girl, (said Johnson,) it won't do."
He, however, did not treat her with harshness, and we talked of the wretched life of such women; and agreed, that much more misery than happiness, upon the whole, is produced by illicit commerce between the sexes.
On Saturday, July 30, Dr. Johnson and I took a sculler at the Templestairs, and set out for Greenwich. I asked him if he really thought a knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages an essential requisite to a good education. JOHNSON.
"Most certainly, Sir. For those who know them have a very great advantage over those who do not. Nay, Sir, it is wonderful what a difference learning makes upon people even in the common intercourse of life, which does not appear to be much connected with it."
"And yet, (said I) people will go through the world very well, and carry on the business of life to good advantage, without learning."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, that may be true in cases where learning cannot possibly be of any use; for instance, this boy rows us as well without learning, as if he could sing the song of Orpheus to the Argonauts, who were the first sailors."
He then called to the boy,
"What would you give, my lad, to know about the Argonauts?"
"Sir, (said the boy,) I would give what I have."
Johnson was much pleased with his answer, and we gave him a double fare. Mr. Johnson then turning to me,
"Sir, (said he) a desire of knowledge is the natural feeling of mankind; and every human being, whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge."
We landed at the Old Swan, and walked to Billingsgate, where we took oars, and moved smoothly along the silver Thames. It was a very fine day. We were entertained with the immense number and variety of ships that were lying at anchor, and with the beautiful country on each side of the river.
I talked of preaching, and of the great success which those called Methodists
All who are acquainted with the history of Religion, (the most important, surely, that concerns the human mind,) know that the appellation of
Methodists
was first given to a society of students in the University of Oxford, who about the year 1730, were distinguished by an earnest and methodical attention to devout exercises. This disposition of mind is not a novelty or peculiar to any sect, but has been, and still may be found, in many Christians of every denomination. Johnson himself was, in a dignified manner, a Methodist. In his Rambler, No. 110, he mentions with respect
"the whole discipline of regulated piety;"
and in his
"Prayers and Meditations,"
many instances occur of his anxious examination into his spiritual state. That this religious earnestness, and in particular an observation of the influence of the Holy Spirit, has sometimes degenerated into folly, and sometimes been counterfeited for base purposes, cannot be denied. But it is not, therefore, fair to decry it when genuine. The principal argument in reason and good sense against methodism is▪ that it tends to debase human nature, and prevent the generous exertions of goodness, by an unworthy supposition that GOD will pay no regard to them, although it is positively said in the scriptures that he
"will reward every man according to his works."
But I am happy to have it in my power to do justice to those whom it is the fashion to ridicule, without any knowledge of their tenets; and this I can do by quoting a passage from one of their best apologists, Mr. Milner, who thus expresses their doctrine upon this subject.
"Justified by faith, renewed in his faculties, and constrained by the love of Christ, their believer moves in the sphere of love and gratitude, and all his
duties
flow more or less from this principle. And though
they are accumulating for him in heaven a treasure of bliss proportioned to his faithfulness and activity, and it is by no means inconsistent with his principles to feel the force of this consideration,
yet love itself sweetens every duty to his mind; and he thinks there is no absurdity in his feeling the love of GOD as the grand commanding principle of his life."
Essays on several religious Subjects, &c. by Joseph Milner, A. M. Master of the Grammar School of Kingston-upon-Hull,
1789▪
p.
11.
have. JOHNSON.
"Sir, it is owing to their expressing themselves in a plain and familiar manner, which is the only way to do good to the common people, and which clergymen of genius and learning ought to do from a principle of duty, when it is suited to their congregations; a practice, for which they will be praised by men of sense. To insist against drunkenness as a crime, because it debases Reason, the noblest faculty of man, would be of no service to the common people: but to tell them that they may die in a fit of drunkenness, and shew them how dreadful that would be, cannot fail to make a deep impression. Sir, when your Scotch clergy give up their homely manner, religion will soon decay in that country."
Let this observation, as Johnson meant it, be ever remembered.
I was much pleased to find myself with Johnson at Greenwich, which he celebrates in his
"London"
as a favourite scene. I had the poem in my pocket, and read the lines aloud with enthusiasm:
"On Thames's banks in silent thought we stood,
"Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood:
"Pleas'd with the seat which gave ELIZA birth,
"We kneel, and kiss the consecrated earth."
He remarked that the structure of Greenwich hospital was too magnificent for a place of charity, and that its parts were too much detached to make one great whole.
Buchanan, he said, was a very fine poet; and observed, that he was the first who complimented a lady, by ascribing to her the different perfections of the heathen goddesses; but that Johnston improved upon this, by making his lady, at the same time, free from their defects.
He dwelt upon Buchanan's elegant verses to Mary Queen of Scots,
Nympha Caledoniae,
&c. and spoke with enthusiasm of the beauty of Latin verse.
"All the modern languages (said he) cannot furnish so melodious a line as
'Formosam resonare doces Amarillida silvas."
Afterwards he entered upon the business of the day, which was to give me his advice as to a course of study. And here I am to mention with much regret, that my record of what he said is miserably scanty. I recollect with admiration an animating blaze of eloquence, which roused every intellectual power in me to the highest pitch, but must have dazzled me so much, that my memory could not preserve the substance of his discourse; for the note which I find of it is no more than this:—
"He ran over the grand scale of human knowledge; advised me to select some particular branch to excel in, but to acquire a little of every kind."
The defect of my minutes will be fully supplied by a long letter upon the subject which he favoured me with, after I had been some time at Utrecht, and which my readers will have the pleasure to peruse in its proper place.
We walked in the evening in Greenwich Park. He asked me, I suppose by way of trying my disposition,
"Is not this very fine?"
Having no exquisite relish of the beauties of Nature, and being more delighted with
"the busy hum of men,"
I answered,
"Yes, Sir; but not equal to Fleet-street."
JOHNSON.
"You are right, Sir."
I am aware that many of my readers may censure my want of taste. Let me, however, shelter myself under the authority of a very fashionable Baronet in the brilliant world, who, on his attention being called to the fragrance of a May evening in the country, observed,
"This may be very well; but, for my part, I prefer the smell of a flambeau at the play-house."
We staid so long at Greenwich, that our sail up the river, in our return to London, was by no means so pleasant as in the morning; for the night air was so cold that it made me shiver. I was the more sensible of it from having sat up all the night before, recollecting and writing in my journal what I thought worthy of preservation; an exertion, which, during the first part of my acquaintance with Johnson, I frequently made. I remember having sat up four nights in one week, without being much incommoded in the day time.
Johnson, whose robust frame was not in the least affected by the cold, scolded me, as if my shivering had been a paltry effeminacy, saying,
"Why do you shiver?"
Sir William Scott, of the Commons, told me, that when he complained of a head-ach in the post-chaise, as they were travelling together to Scotland, Johnson treated him in the same manner:
"At your age, Sir, I had no head-ach."
It is not easy to make allowance for sensations in others, which we ourselves have not at the time. We must all have experienced how very differently we are affected by the complaints of our neighbours, when we are well and when we are ill. In full health, we can scarcely believe that they suffer much; so faint is the image of pain upon our imagination: when softened by sickness, we readily sympathize with the sufferings of others.
We concluded the day at the Turk's Head coffee-house very socially. He was pleased to listen to a particular account which I gave him of my family, and of its hereditary estate, as to the extent and population of which he asked questions, and made calculations; recommending, at the same time, a liberal kindness to the tenantry, as people over whom the proprietor was placed by Providence. He took delight in hearing my description of the romantick seat of my ancestors.
"I must be there, Sir, (said he) and we will live in the old castle; and if there is not a room in it remaining, we will build one."
I was highly flattered, but could scarcely indulge a hope that Auchinleck would indeed be honoured by his presence, and celebrated by a description, as it afterwards was, in his
"Journey to the Western Islands."
After we had again talked of my setting out for Holland, he said
"I must see thee out of England: I will accompany you to Harwich."
I could not find words to express what I felt upon this unexpected and very great mark of his affectionate regard.
Next day, Sunday, July 31, I told him I had been that morning at a meeting of the people called Quakers, where I had heard a woman preach. JOHNSON.
"Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprized to find it done at all."
On Tuesday, August 2, (the day of my departure from London having been fixed for the 5th,) Dr. Johnson did me the honour to pass a part of the morning with me at my Chambers. He said, that
"he always felt an inclination to do nothing."
I observed, that it was strange to think that the most indolent man in Britain had written the most laborious work, THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY.
I mentioned an imprudent publication, by a certain friend of his, at an early period of life, and asked him if he thought it would hurt him. JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; not much. It may, perhaps, be mentioned at an election."
I had now made good my title to be a privileged man, and was carried by him in the evening to drink tea with Miss Williams, whom, though under the misfortune of having lost her sight, I found to be agreeable in conversation; for she had a variety of literature, and expressed herself well; but her peculiar value was the intimacy in which she had long lived with Johnson, by which she was well acquainted with his habits, and knew how to lead him on to talk.
After tea he carried me to what he called his walk, which was a long narrow paved court in the neighbourhood, overshadowed by some trees. There we sauntered a considerable time; and I complained to him that my love of London and of his company was such, that I shrunk almost from the thought of going away even to travel, which is generally so much desired by young men. He roused me by manly and spirited conversation. He advised me, when settled in any place abroad, to study with an eagerness after knowledge, and to apply to Greek an hour every day; and when I was moving about, to read diligently the great book of mankind.
On Wednesday, August 3, we had our last social evening at the Turk's Head coffee-house, before my setting out for foreign parts. I had the misfortune, before we parted, to irritate him unintentionally. I mentioned to him how common it was in the world to tell absurd stories of him, and to ascribe to him very strange sayings. JOHNSON.
"What do they make me say, Sir?"
BOSWELL.
"Why, Sir, as an instance very strange indeed, (laughing heartily as I spoke,) David Hume told me, you said that you would stand before a battery of cannon, to restore the Convocation to its full powers."
—Little did I apprehend that he had actually said this; but I was soon convinced of my errour; for, with a determined look, he thundered out,
"And would I not, Sir? Shall the Presbyterian
Kirk
of Scotland have its General Assembly, and the Church of England be denied its Convocation?"
He was walking up and down the room while I told him the anecdote; but when he uttered this explosion of high-church zeal, he had come close to my chair, and his eyes flashed with indignation. I bowed to the storm, and diverted the force of it, by leading him to expatiate on the influence which religion derived from maintaining the church with great external respectability.
I must not omit to mention that he this year wrote
"The Life of Ascham, †"
and the Dedication to the Earl of Shaftesbury, † prefixed to the edition of that writer's English works, published by Mr. Bennet.
On Friday, August 5, we set out early in the morning in the Harwich stage coach. A fat elderly gentlewoman, and a young Dutchman, seemed the most inclined among us to conversation. At the inn where we dined, the gentlewoman said that she had done her best to educate her children; and, particularly, that she had never suffered them to be a moment idle. JOHNSON.
"I wish, Madam, you would educate me too; for I have been an idle fellow all my life."
"I am sure, Sir, (said she) you have not been idle."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Madam, it is very true; and that gentleman there (pointing to me,) has been idle. He was idle at Edinburgh. His father sent him to Glasgow, where he continued to be idle. He then came to London, where he has been very idle; and now he is going to Utrecht, where he will be as idle as ever."
I asked him privately how he could expose me so. JOHNSON.
"Poh, poh! (said he) they knew nothing about you, and will think of it no more."
In the afternoon the gentlewoman talked violently against the Roman Catholicks, and of the horrours of the Inquisition. To the utter astonishment of all the passengers but myself, who knew that he could talk upon any side of a question, he defended the Inquisition, and maintained, that
"false doctrine should be checked on its first appearance; that the civil power should unite with the church in punishing those who dared to attack the established religion, and that such only were punished by the Inquisition."
He had in his pocket
"Pomponius Mela de situ Orbis,"
in which he read occasionally, and seemed very intent upon ancient geography. Though by no means niggardly, his attention to what was generally right was so minute, that having observed at one of the stages that I ostentatiously gave a shilling to the coachman, when the custom was for each passenger to give only six-pence, he took me aside and scolded me, saying that what I had done would make the coachman dissatisfied with all the rest of the passengers, who gave him no more than his due. This was a just reprimand; for in whatever way a man may indulge his generosity or his vanity in spending his money, for the sake of others he ought not to raise the price of any article for which there is a constant demand.
He talked of Mr. Blacklock's poetry, so far as it was descriptive of visible objects; and observed, that
"as its authour had the misfortune to be blind, we may be absolutely sure that such passages are combinations of what he has remembered of the works of other writers who could see. That foolish fellow Spence has laboured to explain philosophically how Blacklock may have done, by means of his own faculties, what it is impossible he should do. The solution, as I have given it, is plain. Suppose, I know a man to be so lame that he is absolutely incapable to move himself, and I find him in a different room from that in which I left him; shall I puzzle myself with idle conjectures, that, perhaps, his nerves have by some unknown change all at once become effective? No, Sir; it is clear how he got into a different room. He was
carried."
Having stopped a night at Colchester, Johnson talked of that town with veneration, for having stood a siege for Charles the First. The Dutchman alone now remained with us. He spoke English tolerably well; and thinking to recommend himself to us by expatiating on the superiority of the criminal jurisprudence of this country over that of Holland, he inveighed against the barbarity of putting an accused person to the torture, in order to force a confession. But Johnson was as ready for this, as for the Inquisition.
"Why, Sir, you do not, I find, understand the law of your own country. The torture in Holland is considered as a favour to an accused person; for no man is put to the torture there, unless there is as much evidence against him as would amount to conviction in England. An accused person among you, therefore, has one chance more to escape punishment, than those who are tried among us."
At supper this night he talked of good eating with uncommon satisfaction.
"Some people (said he,) have a foolish way of not minding, or pretending not to mind, what they eat. For my part, I mind my belly very studiously, and very carefully; for I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind any thing else."
He now appeared to me
Jean Bull philosophe,
and he was, for the moment, not only serious but vehement. Yet I have heard him, upon other occasions, talk with great contempt of people who were anxious to gratify their palates; and the 206th number of his Rambler is a masterly essay against gulosity. His practice, indeed, I must acknowledge, may be considered as casting the balance of his different opinions upon this subject; for I never knew any man who relished good eating more than he did. When at table, he was totally absorbed in the business of the moment; his looks seemed rivetted to his plate; nor would he, unless when in very high company, say one word, or even pay the least attention to what was said by others, till he had satisfied his appetite, which was so fierce, and indulged with such intenseness, that while in the act of eating, the veins of his forehead swelled, and generally a strong perspiration was visible. To those whose sensations were delicate, this could not but be disgusting; and it was doubtless not very suitable to the character of a philosopher, who should be distinguished by selfcommand. But it must be owned, that Johnson, though he could be rigidly
abstemious,
was not a
temperate
man either in eating or drinking. He could refrain, but he could not use moderately. He told me, that he had fasted two days without inconvenience, and that he had never been hungry but once. They who beheld with wonder how much he eat upon all occasions when his dinner was to his taste, could not easily conceive what he must have meant by hunger; and not only was he remarkable for the extraordinary quantity which he eat, but he was, or affected to be, a man of very nice discernment in the science of cookery. He used to descant critically on the dishes which had been at table where he had dined or supped, and to recollect very minutely what he had liked. I remember, when he was in Scotland, his praising
"Gordon's palates,"
(a dish of palates at the Honourable Alexander Gordon's,) with a warmth of expression which might have done honour to more important subjects.
"As for—'s imitation of a
made dish
it was a wretched attempt."
He about the same time was so much displeased with the performances of a nobleman's French cook, that he exclaimed with vehemence,
"I'd throw such a rascal into the river;"
and he then proceeded to alarm a lady at whose house he was to sup, by the following manifesto of his skill:
"I, Madam, who live at a variety of good tables, am a much better judge of cookery, than any person who has a very tolerable cook, but lives much at home; for his palate is gradually adapted to the taste of his cook; whereas, Madam, in trying by a wider range, I can more exquisitely judge."
When invited to dine, even with an intimate friend, he was not pleased if something better than a plain dinner was not prepared for him. I have heard him say on such an occasion,
"This was a good dinner enough, to be sure; but it was not a dinner to
ask
a man to."
On the other hand, he was wont to express, with great glee, his satisfaction when he had been entertained quite to his mind. One day when he had dined with his neighbour and landlord in Bolt-court, Mr. Allen, the printer, whose old housekeeper had studied his taste in every thing, he pronounced this eulogy,
"Sir, we could not have had a better dinner had there been a
Synod of Cooks."
While we were left by ourselves, after the Dutchman had gone to bed, Dr. Johnson talked of that studied behaviour which many have recommended and practised. He disapproved of it; and said,
"I never considered whether I should be a grave man, or a merry man, but just let inclination, for the time, have its course."
He flattered me with some hopes that he would, in the course of the following summer, come over to Holland, and accompany me in a tour through the Netherlands.
I teized him with fanciful apprehensions of unhappiness. A moth having fluttered round the candle, and burnt itself, he laid hold of this little incident to admonish me; saying, with a sly look, and in a solemn but quiet tone,
"That creature was its own tormentor, and I believe its name was BOSWELL."
Next day we got to Harwich to dinner; and my passage in the packetboat to Helvoetsluys being secured, and my baggage put on board, we dined at our inn by ourselves. I happened to say it would be terrible if he should not find a speedy opportunity of returning to London, and be confined to so dull a place. JOHNSON▪
"Don't, Sir, accustom yourself to use big words for little matters. It would
not
be
terrible,
though I
were
to be detained some time here."
The practice of using words of disproportionate magnitude, tude, is, no doubt, too frequent every where; but, I think, most remarkable among the French, of which, all who have travelled in France must have been struck with innumerable instances.
We went and looked at the church, and having gone into it and walked up to the altar, Johnson, whose piety was constant and fervent, sent me to my knees, saying,
"Now that you are going to leave your native country, recommend yourself to the protection of your Creator and Redeemer."
After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it,
"I refute it
thus."
This was a stout exemplification of the
first truths
of
Pere Bouffier,
or the
original principles
of Reid and of Beattie; without admitting which, we can no more argue in metaphysicks, than we can argue in mathematicks without axioms. To me it is not conceivable how Berkeley can be answered by pure reasoning. But I know that the nice and difficult task was to have been undertaken by one of the most luminous minds of the present age; had not politicks
"turned him from calm philosophy aside."
What an admirable display of subtilty, united with brilliance, might his contending with Berkeley have afforded us! How must we, when we reflect on the loss of such an intellectual feast, regret that he should be characterised as the man,
"Who born for the universe narrowed his mind,
"And to party gave up what was meant for mankind?"
My revered friend walked down with me to the beach, where we embraced and parted with tenderness, and engaged to correspond by letters. I said,
"I hope, Sir, you will not forget me in my absence."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, it is more likely you should forget me, than that I should forget you."
As the vessel put out to sea, I kept my eyes upon him for a considerable time, while he remained rolling his majestick frame in his usual manner; at last I perceived him walk back into the town, and he disappeared.
Utrecht seeming at first very dull to me, after the animated scenes of London, my spirits were grievously affected; and I wrote to Johnson a plaintive and desponding letter, to which he paid no regard. Afterwards, when I had acquired a firmer tone of mind, I wrote him a second letter, expressing much anxiety to hear from him. At length I received the following epistle, which was of important service to me, and, I trust, will be so also to many others.
A Mr. Mr.
BOSWELL,
à la Cour de l'Empereur, Utrecht.
DEAR SIR,
YOU are not to think yourself forgotten, or criminally neglected, that you have had yet no letter from me. I love to see my friends, to hear from them, to talk to them, and to talk of them; but it is not without a considerable effort of resolution that I prevail upon myself to write. I would not, however, gratify my own indolence by the omission of any important duty, or any office of real kindness.
To tell you that I am or am not well, that I have or have not been in the country, that I drank your health in the room in which we sat last together, and that your acquaintance continue to speak of you with their former kindness, topicks with which those letters are commonly filled which are written only for the sake of writing, I seldom shall think worth communicating; but if I can have it in my power to calm any harrassing disquiet, to excite any virtuous desire, to rectify any important opinion, or fortify any generous resolution, you need not doubt but I shall at least wish to prefer the pleasure of gratifying a friend much less esteemed than yourself, before the gloomy calm of idle vacancy. Whether I shall easily arrive at an exact punctuality of correspondence, I cannot tell. I shall, at present, expect that you will receive this in return for two which I have had from you. The first, indeed, gave me an account so hopeless of the state of your mind, that it hardly admitted or deserved an answer; by the second I was much better pleased: and the pleasure will still be increased by such a narrative of the progress of your studies, as may evince the continuance of an equal and rational application of your mind to some useful enquiry.
You will, perhaps, wish to ask, what study I would recommend. I shall not speak of theology, because it ought not to be considered as a question whether you shall endeavour to know the will of GOD.
I shall, therefore, consider only such studies as we are at liberty to pursue or to neglect; and of these I know not how you will make a better choice, than by studying the civil law, as your father advises, and the ancient languages, as you had determined for yourself; at least resolve, while you remain in any settled residence, to spend a certain number of hours every day amongst your books. The dissipation of thought, of which you complain, is nothing more than the vacillation of a mind suspended between different motives, and changing its direction as any motive gains or loses strength. If you can but kindle in your mind any strong desire, if you can but keep predominant any wish for some particular excellence or attainment, the gusts of imagination will break away, without any effect upon your conduct, and commonly without any traces left upon the memory.
There lurks, perhaps, in every human heart a desire of distinction, which inclines every man first to hope, and then to believe, that Nature has given him something peculiar to himself. This vanity makes one mind nurse aversions, and another actuate desires, till they rise by art much above their original state of power; and as affectation, in time, improves to habit, they at last tyrannise over him who at first encouraged them only for show. Every desire is a viper in the bosom, who, while he was chill, was harmless; but when warmth gave him strength, exerted it in poison. You know a gentleman, who, when first he set his foot in the gay world, as he prepared himself to whirl in the vortex of pleasure, imagined a total indifference and universal negligence to be the most agreeable concomitants of youth, and the strongest indication of an airy temper and a quick apprehension. Vacant to every object, and sensible of every impulse, he thought that all appearance of diligence would deduct something from the reputation of genius; and hoped that he should appear to attain, amidst all the ease of carelessness and all the tumult of diversion, that knowledge and those accomplishments which mortals of the common fabrick obtain only by mute abstraction and solitary drudgery. He tried this scheme of life awhile, was made weary of it by his sense and his virtue, he then wished to return to his studies; and finding long habits of idleness and pleasure harder to be cured than he expected, still willing to retain his claim to some extraordinary prerogatives, resolved the common consequences of irregularity into an unalterable decree of destiny, and concluded that Nature had originally formed him incapable of rational employment.
Let all such fancies, illusive and destructive, be banished henceforward from your thoughts for ever. Resolve, and keep your resolution; choose, and pursue your choice. If you spend this day in study, you will find yourself still more able to study to-morrow; not that you are to expect that you shall at once obtain a complete victory. Depravity is not very easily overcome. Resolution will sometimes relax, and diligence will sometimes be interrupted; but let no accidental surprize or deviation, whether short or long, dispose you to despondency. Consider these failings as incident to all mankind. Begin again where you left off, and endeavour to avoid the seducements that prevailed over you before.
This, my dear Boswell, is advice which, perhaps, has been often given you, and given you without effect. But this advice, if you will not take from others, you must take from your own reflections, if you purpose to do the duties of the station to which the bounty of Providence has called you.
Let me have a long letter from you as soon as you can. I hope you continue your journal, and enrich it with many observations upon the country in which you reside. It will be a favour if you can get me any books in the Frisick language, and can enquire how the poor are maintained in the Seven Provinces.
I am, dear Sir, Your most affectionate servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
Dec. 8, 1763.
I am sorry to observe, that neither in my own minutes, nor in my letters to Johnson which have been preserved by him, can I find any information how the poor are maintained in the Seven Provinces. But I shall extract from one of my letters what I learnt concerning the other subject of his curiosity.
"I have made all possible enquiry with respect to the Frisick language, and find that it has been less cultivated than any other of the northern dialects; a certain proof of which is their deficiency of books. Of the old Frisick there are no remains, except some ancient laws preserved by
Schotanus
in his
'Beschryvinge van die Heerlykheid van Friesland;'
and his
'Historia Frisica.'
I have not yet been able to find these books. Professor Trotz, who formerly was of the University of Vranyken, in Friesland, and is at present preparing an edition of all the Frisick laws, gave me this information. Of the modern Frisick, or what is spoken by the boors at this day, I have procured a specimen. It is
'Gisbert Japix's Rymelerie,'
which is the only book that they have. It is amazing, that they have no translation of the bible, no treatises of devotion, nor even any of the ballads and story-books which are so agreeable to country people. You shall have
Japix
by the first convenient opportunity. I doubt not to pick up
Schotanus.
Mynheer Trotz has promised me his assistance."
Early in 1764 Johnson paid a visit to the Langton family, at their seat of Langton, in Lincolnshire, where he passed some time, much to his satisfaction. His friend Bennet Langton, it will not be doubted, did every thing in his power to make the place agreeable to so illustrious a guest; and the elder Mr. Langton and his lady, being fully capable of understanding his value,
were not wanting in attention. He, however, told me, that old Mr. Langton, though a man of considerable learning, had so little allowance to make for his occasional
"laxity of talk,"
that because in the course of discussion he sometimes mentioned what might be said in favour of the peculiar tenets of the Romish church, he went to his grave believing him to be of that communion.
Johnson, during his stay at Langton, had the advantage of a good library, and saw several gentlemen of the neighbourhood. I have obtained from Mr. Langton the following particulars of this period.
He was now fully convinced that he could not have been satisfied with a country living; for, talking of a respectable clergyman in Lincolnshire, he observed,
"This man, Sir, fills up the duties of his life well. I approve of him, but could not imitate him."
To a lady who endeavoured to vindicate herself from blame for neglecting social attention to worthy neighbours, by saying,
"I would go to them if it would do them any good;"
he said,
"What good, Madam, do you expect to have in your power to do them? It is shewing them respect, and that is doing them good."
So socially accommodating was he, that once when Mr. Langton and he were driving together in a coach, and Mr. Langton complained of being sick, he insisted that they should go out, and sit on the back of it in the open air, which they did. And being sensible how strange the appearance must be, observed, that a countryman whom they saw in a field would probably be thinking,
"If these two madmen should come down, what would become of me?"
Soon after his return to London, which was in February, was founded that club which existed long without a name, but at Mr. Garrick's funeral became distinguished by the title of THE LITERARY CLUB. Sir Joshua Reynolds had the merit of being the first proposer of it, to which Johnson acceded, and the original members were, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Edmund Burke, Dr. Nugent, Mr. Beauclerk, Mr. Langton, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. Chamier, and Sir John Hawkins. They met at the Turk's Head, in Gerardstreet, Soho, one evening in every week, at seven, and generally continued their conversation till a pretty late hour. This club has been gradually increased, and instead of assembling in the evening, they now dine together at a tavern in Doverstreet, once a fortnight, during the meeting of Parliament. Between the time of its formation, and the time at which this work is passing through the press, (1790,) the following persons, now dead, were members of it: Mr. Dunning, (afterwards Lord Ashburton,) Mr. Dyer, Mr. Garrick, Dr. Shipley Bishop of St. Asaph, Mr. Vesey, and Mr. Thomas Warton. The present members are, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Burke, Mr. Langton, Dr. Percy Bishop of Dromore, Dr. Barnard Bishop of Killaloe, Dr. Marlay Bishop of Clonfert, Mr. Fox, Dr. George Fordyce, Sir William Scott, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir Charles Bunbury, Mr. Windham of Norfolk, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Gibbon, Dr. Adam Smith, Lord Charlemont, Sir Robert Chambers, Sir William Jones, Mr. Colman, Mr. Steevens, Dr. Burney, Dr. Joseph Warton, Mr. Malone, Lord Ossory, Lord Spencer, Lord Lucan, Lord Palmerston, Lord Elliot, Lord Macartney, Mr. Richard Burke, junior, Sir William Hamilton, Dr. Warren, Mr. Courtenay, and the writer of this account.
Sir John Hawkins
Life of Johnson, p. 425.
represents himself as a
"seceder"
from this society, and assigns as the reason of his
"withdrawing"
himself from it, that its late hours were inconsistent with his domestick arrangements. In this he is not accurate; for the fact was, that he one evening attacked Mr. Burke in so rude a manner, that all the company testified their displeasure; and at their next meeting his reception was such, that he never came again
From Sir Joshua Reynolds.
.
He is equally inaccurate with respect to Mr. Garrick, of whom he says,
"he trusted that the least intimation of a desire to come among us, would procure him a ready admission; but in this he was mistaken. Johnson consulted me upon it; and when I could find no objection to receiving him, exclaimed,—'He will disturb us by his buffoonery;'—and afterwards so managed matters, that he was never formally proposed, and, by consequence, never admitted
Life of Johnson, p. 425.
."
In justice both to Mr. Garrick and Dr. Johnson, I think it necessary to rectify this mis-statement. The truth is, that not very long after the institution of our club, Sir Joshua Reynolds was speaking of it to Garrick.
"I like it much, (said he,) I think I shall be of you."
When Sir Joshua mentioned this to Dr. Johnson, he was much displeased with the actor's conceit.
"He'll be of us,
(said Johnson,) how does he know we will
permit
him? The first duke in England has no right to hold such language."
However, when Garrick was regularly proposed some time afterwards, Johnson, though he had taken a momentary offence at his arrogance, warmly and kindly supported him, and he was accordingly elected, was a most agreeable member, and continued to attend our meetings to the time of his death.
Mrs. Piozzi
Letters to and from Dr. Johnson. Vol. II. p. 278.
has also given a similar misrepresentation of Johnson's treatment of Garrick in this particular, as if he had used these contemptuous expressions:
"If Garrick
does
apply, I'll black-ball him.—Surely, one ought to sit in a society like ours,
'Unelbow'd by a gamester, pimp, or player."
I am happy to be enabled by such unquestionable authority as that of Sir Joshua Reynolds, as well as from my own knowledge, to vindicate at once the heart of Johnson and the social merit of Garrick.
In this year, except what he may have done in revising Shakspeare, we do not find that he laboured much in literature. He wrote a review of Grainger's
"Sugar Cane, a Poem,"
in the London Chronicle. He told me, that Dr. Percy wrote the greatest part of this review; but, I imagine, he did not recollect it distinctly, for it appears to be mostly, if not altogether, his own. He also wrote in the Critical Review, an account† of Goldsmith's excellent poem,
"The Traveller."
The ease and independence to which he had at last attained by royal munificence, increased his natural indolence. In his
"Meditations"
he thus accuses himself:
"GOOD FRIDAY, April 20, 1764. I have made no reformation; I have lived totally useless, more sensual in thought, and more addicted to wine and meat
Prayers and Meditations, p. 50.
."
And next morning he thus feelingly complains:
"My indolence, since my last reception of the sacrament, has sunk into grosser sluggishness, and my dissipation spread into wilder negligence. My thoughts have been clouded with sensuality; and, except that from the beginning of this year I have, in some measure, forborne excess of strong drink, my appetites have predominated over my reason. A kind of strange oblivion has overspread me, so that I know not what has become of the last year; and perceive that incidents and intelligence pass over me, without leaving any impression."
He then solemnly says,
"This is not the life to which heaven is promised
Ibid. p. 51.
;"
and he earnestly resolves on amendment.
It was his custom to observe certain days with a pious abstraction; viz. New-year's-day, the day of his wise's death, Good Friday, Easter-day, and his own birth-day. He this year says,
"I have now spent fifty-five years in resolving; having, from the earliest time almost that I can remember, been forming schemes of a better life. I have done nothing. The need of doing, therefore, is pressing, since the time of doing is short. O GOD, grant me to resolve aright, and to keep my resolutions, for JESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen
Prayers and Meditations, p. 58.
."
Such a tenderness of conscience, such a fervent desire of improvement, will rarely be found. It is, surely, not decent in those who are hardened in indifference to spiritual improvement, to treat this pious anxiety of Johnson with contempt.
About this time he was afflicted with a very severe return of the hypochondriack disorder, which was ever lurking about him. He was so ill, as, notwithstanding his remarkable love of company, to be entirely averse to society, the most fatal symptom of that malady. Dr. Adams told me, that, as an old friend, he was admitted to visit him, and that he found him in a deplorable state, sighing, groaning, talking to himself, and restlessly walking from room to room. He then used this emphatical expression of the misery which he felt:
"I would consent to have a limb amputated to recover my spirits."
Talking to himself was, indeed, one of his singularities ever since I knew him. I was certain that he was frequently uttering pious ejaculations, for fragments of the Lord's Prayer have been distinctly overheard. His friend Mr. Thomas Davies, of whom Churchill says,
"That Davies hath a very pretty wife:"
when Dr. Johnson muttered
"lead us not into temptation,"
used with waggish and gallant humour to whisper Mrs. Davies,
"You, my dear, are the cause of this."
He had another particularity, of which none of his friends ever ventured to ask an explanation. It appeared to me some superstitious habit, which he had contracted early, and from which he had never called upon his reason to dis-entangle him. This was his anxious care to go out or in at a door or passage, by a certain number of steps from a certain point, or at least so as that either his right or his left foot, (I am not certain which,) should constantly make the first actual movement when he came close to the door or passage. Thus I conjecture: for I have, upon innumerable occasions, observed him suddenly stop, and then seem to count his steps with a deep earnestness; and when he had neglected or gone wrong in this sort of magical movement, I have seen him go back again, put himself in a proper posture to begin the ceremony, and, having gone through it, break from his abstraction, walk briskly on, and join his companion. A strange instance of something of this nature, even when on horseback, happened when he was in the isle of Sky
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 3d edit. p. 316.
. Sir Joshua Reynolds has observed him to go a good way about, rather than cross a particular alley in Leicester-fields; but this Sir Joshua imputed to his having had some disagreeable recollection associated with it.
That the most minute singularities which belonged to him, and made very observable parts of his appearance and manner, may not be omitted, it is requisite to mention, that while talking or even musing as he sat in his chair, he commonly shook his head in a tremulous manner, moving his body backwards and forwards, and rubbing his left knee in the same direction, with the palm of his hand. In the intervals of articulating he made various sounds with his mouth, sometimes as if ruminating, or what is called chewing the cud, sometimes giving a half whistle, sometimes making his tongue play backwards from the roof of his mouth, as if clucking like a hen, and sometimes protruding it against his upper gums in front, as if pronouncing quickly under his breath,
too, too, too:
all this accompanied sometimes with a thoughtful look, but more frequently with a smile.
I am fully aware how very obvious an occasion I here give for the sneering jocularity of such as have no relish of an exact likeness; which, to render complete, he who draws it must not disdain the slightest strokes. But if witlings should be inclined to attack this account, let them have the candour to quote what I have offered in my defence.
He was for some time in the summer at Easton Maudit, Northamptonshire, on a visit to the Reverend Dr. Percy, now Bishop of Dromore. Whatever dissatisfaction he felt at what he considered as a slow progress in intellectual improvement, we find that his heart was tender, and his affections warm, as appears from the following very kind letter:
To
JOSHUA REYNOLDS,
Esq. in Leicester-Fields, London.
DEAR SIR,
I DID not hear of your sickness till I heard likewise of your recovery, and therefore escaped that part of your pain, which every man must feel, to whom you are known as you are known to me.
Having had no particular account of your disorder, I know not in what state it has left you. If the amusement of my company can exhilarate the languor of a slow recovery, I will not delay a day to come to you; for I know not how I can so effectually promote my own pleasure as by pleasing you, or my own interest as by preserving you, in whom, if I should lose you, I should lose almost the only man whom I call a friend.
Pray let me hear of you from yourself, or from dear Miss Reynolds. Make my compliments to Mr. Mudge.
I am, dear Sir, Your most affectionate And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
At the Rev. Mr. Percy's, at Easton Maudit, Northamptonshire, (by Castle Ashby,)
Aug. 19, 1764.
Early in the year 1765 he paid a short visit to the University of Cambridge, with his friend Mr. Beauclerk. There is a lively picturesque account of his behaviour on this visit, in the Gentleman's Magazine for March 1785, being an extract of a letter from the late Dr. John Sharp. The two following sentences are very characteristical:
"He drank his large potations of tea with me, interrupted by many an indignant contradiction, and many a noble sentiment."
—
"Several persons got into his company the last evening at Trinity, where, about twelve, he began to be very great; stripped poor Mrs. Macaulay to the very skin, then gave her for his toast, and drank her in two bumpers."
The strictness of his self-examination and scrupulous Christian humility, appear in his pious meditation on Easter-day this year.—
"I purpose again to partake of the blessed sacrament; yet when I consider how vainly I have hitherto resolved at this annual commemoration of my Saviour's death, to regulate my life by his laws, I am almost afraid to renew my resolutions
Prayers and Meditations, p. 61.
."
No man was more gratefully sensible of any kindness done to him than Johnson. There is a little circumstance in his diary this year, which shews him in a very amiable light.
"July 2. I paid Mr. Simpson
Joseph Simpson, Esq. mentioned in p. 188. He wrote a tragedy entitled
"The Patriot;"
in which Dr. Johnson having made some corrections, advantage was taken of this circumstance after his death, and the piece falsely published under his name.
ten guineas, which he had formerly lent me in my necessity, and for which Tetty expressed her gratitude."
"July 8. I lent Mr. Simpson ten guineas more."
Here he had a pleasing opportunity of doing the same kindness to an old friend, which he had formerly received from him. Indeed his liberality as to money was very remarkable. The next article in his diary is,
"July 16, I received seventy-five pounds. Lent Mr. Davies twenty-five."
He appears this year to have been seized with a temporary fit of ambition,
for he had thoughts both of studying law and of engaging in politicks. His
"Prayer before the Study of Law"
is truly admirable:
Sept. 26, 1765.
Almighty GOD, the giver of wisdom, without whose help resolutions are vain, without whose blessing study is ineffectual; enable me, if it be thy will, to attain such knowledge as may qualify me to direct the doubtful, and instruct the ignorant; to prevent wrongs and terminate contentions; and grant that I may use that knowledge which I shall attain, to thy glory and my own salvation, for JESUS CHRIST'S sake. Amen
Prayers and Meditations, p. 66.
.
His prayer in the view of becoming a politician is entitled,
"Engaging in POLITICKS with H—n,"
no doubt his friend, the Right Honourable William Gerard Hamilton, for whom, during a long acquaintance, he had a great esteem, and to whose conversation he once paid this high compliment:
"I am very unwilling to be left alone, Sir, and therefore I go with my company down the first pair of stairs, in some hopes that they may, perhaps, return again. I go with you, Sir, as far as the street-door."
In what particular department he intended to engage does not appear, nor can Mr. Hamilton explain. His prayer is in general terms.
"Enlighten my understanding with knowledge of right, and govern my will by thy laws, that no deceit may mislead me, nor temptation corrupt me; that I may always endeavour to do good, and hinder evil
Ibid. p. 67.
."
There is nothing upon the subject in his diary.
This year was distinguished by his being introduced into the family of Mr. Thrale, one of the most eminent brewers in England, and Member of Parliament for the borough of Southwark. Foreigners are not a little amazed when they hear of brewers, distillers, and men in similar departments of trade, held forth as persons of considerable consequence. In this great commercial country it is natural that a situation which produces much wealth should be considered as very respectable; and, no doubt, honest industry is entitled to esteem. But, perhaps, the too rapid advance of men of low extraction tends to lessen the value of that distinction by birth and gentility, which has ever been found beneficial to the grand scheme of subordination. Johnson used to give this account of the rise of Mr. Thrale's father:
"He worked at six shillings a week for twenty years in the great brewery, which afterwards was his own. The proprietor of it had an only daughter, who was married to a nobleman. It was not fit that a peer should continue the business. On the old man's death, therefore, the brewery was to be sold. To find a purchaser for so large a property was a difficult matter; and, after some time, it was suggested, that it would be adviseable to treat with Thrale, a sensible, active, honest man, who had been long employed in the house, and to transfer the whole to him for thirty thousand pounds, security being taken upon the property. This was accordingly settled. In eleven years Thrale paid the purchase-money. He acquired a large fortune, and lived to be Member of Parliament for Southwark. But what was most remarkable was the liberality with which he used his riches. He gave his son and daughters the best education. The esteem which his good conduct procured him from the nobleman who had married his master's daughter, made him be treated with much attention; and his son, both at school and at the University of Oxford, associated with young men of the first rank. His allowance from his father, after he left college, was splendid; no less than a thousand a year. This, in a man who had risen as old Thrale did, was a very extraordinary instance of generosity. He used to say, 'If this young dog does not find so much after I am gone as he expects, let him remember that he has had a great deal in my own time."
The son, though in affluent circumstances, had good sense enough to carry on his father's trade, which was of such extent, that I remember he once told me, he would not quit it for an annuity of ten thousand a year;
"Not (said he,) that I get ten thousand a year by it, but it is an estate to a family."
Having left daughters only, the property was sold for the immense sum of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds; a magnificent proof of what may be done by fair trade in no long period of time.
There may be some who think that a new system of gentility might be established, upon principles totally different from what have hitherto prevailed. Our present heraldry, it may be said, is suited to the barbarous times in which it had its origin. It is chiefly founded upon ferocious merit, upon military excellence. Why, in civilised times, we may be asked, should there not be rank and honours, upon principles, which, independent of long custom, are certainly not less worthy, and which, when once allowed to be connected with elevation and precedency, would obtain the same dignity in our imagination? Why should not the knowledge, the skill, the expertness, the assiduity, and the spirited hazards of trade and commerce, when crowned with success, be entitled to give those flattering distinctions by which mankind are so universally captivated
Such are the specious, but false arguments for a proposition which always will find numerous advocates, in a nation where men are every day starting up from obscurity to wealth. To refute them is needless. The general sense of mankind cries out, with irresistible force,
"Un gentilhomme est toujours gentilhomme."
Mr. Thrale had married Miss Hesther Lynch Salusbury, of good Welch extraction, a lady of lively talents, improved by education. That Johnson's introduction into Mr. Thrale's family, which contributed so much to the happiness of his life, was owing to her desire for his conversation, is the most probable and general supposition. But it is not the truth. Mr. Murphy, who was intimate with Mr. Thrale, having spoken very highly of Dr. Johnson, he was requested to make them acquainted. This being mentioned to Johnson, he accepted of an invitation to dinner at Thrale's, and was so much pleased with his reception, both by Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, and they so much pleased with him, that his invitations to their house were more and more frequent, till at last he became one of the family, and an apartment was appropriated to him, both in their house in Southwark, and in their villa at Streatham.
Johnson had a very sincere esteem for Mr. Thrale as a man of excellent principles, a good scholar, well skilled in trade, of a sound understanding, and of manners such as presented the character of a plain independent English 'Squire. As this family will frequently be mentioned in the course of the following pages, and as a false notion has prevailed that Mr. Thrale was inferiour, and in some degree insignificant, compared with Mrs. Thrale, it may be proper to give a true state of the case from the authority of Johnson himself, in his own words.
"I know no man (said he,) who is more master of his wife and family than Thrale. If he but holds up a finger, he is obeyed. It is a great mistake to suppose that she is above him in literary attainments. She is more flippant; but he has ten times her learning: he is a regular scholar; but her learning is that of a school-boy in one of the lower forms."
My readers may naturally wish for some representation of the figures of this couple. Mr. Thrale was tall, well proportioned, and stately. As for
Madam,
or
my Mistress,
by which epithets Johnson used to mention Mrs. Thrale, she was short, plump, and brisk. She has herself given us a lively view of the idea which Johnson had of her person, on her appearing before him in a dark-coloured gown:
"You little creatures should never wear those sort of clothes, however; they are unsuitable in every way. What! have not all insects gay colours
Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 279.
?"
Mr. Thrale gave his wife a liberal indulgence, both in the choice of their company, and in the mode of entertaining them. He understood and valued Johnson, without remission, from their first acquaintance to the day of his death. Mrs. Thrale was enchanted with Johnson's conversation for its own sake, and had also a very allowable vanity in appearing to be honoured with the attention of so celebrated a man.
Nothing could be more fortunate for Johnson than this connection. He had at Mr. Thrale's all the comforts and even luxuries of life; his melancholy was diverted, and his irregular habits lessened by association with an agreeable and well-ordered family. He was treated with the utmost respect, and even affection. The vivacity of Mrs. Thrale's literary talk roused him to cheerfulness and exertion, even when they were alone. But this was not often the case; for he found here a constant succession of what gave him the highest enjoyment, the society of the learned, the witty, and the eminent in every way, who were assembled in numerous companies, called forth his wonderful powers, and gratified him with admiration, to which no man could be insensible.
In the October of this year he at length gave to the world his edition of Shakspeare, which, if it had no other merit but that of producing his Preface, in which the excellencies and defects of that immortal bard are displayed with a masterly hand, the nation would have had no reason to complain. A blind indiscriminate admiration of Shakspeare had exposed the British nation to the ridicule of foreigners. Johnson, by candidly admitting the faults of his poet, had the more credit in bestowing on him deserved and indisputable praise; and doubtless none of all his panegyrists have done him half so much honour. Their praise was, like that of a counsel, upon his own side of the cause: Johnson's was like' the grave, well considered, and impartial opinion of the judge, which falls from his lips with weight, and is received with reverence. What he did as a commentator has no small share of merit, though his researches were not so ample, and his investigations so acute as they might have been, which we now certainly know from the labours of other able and ingenious criticks who have followed him. He has enriched his edition with a concise account of each play, and of its characteristick excellence. Many of his notes have illustrated obscurities in the text, and placed passages eminent for beauty in a more conspicuous light; and he has, in general, exhibited such a mode of annotation, as may be beneficial to all subsequent editors.
His Shakspeare was virulently attacked by Mr. William Kenrick, who obtained the degree of LL. D. from a Scotch University, and wrote for the booksellers in a great variety of branches. Though he certainly was not without considerable merit, he wrote with so little regard to principle and decorum, and in so hasty a manner, that his reputation was neither extensive nor lasting. I remember one evening, when some of his works were mentioned, Dr. Goldsmith said, he had never heard' of them; upon which Dr. Johnson observed,
"Sir, he is one of the many who have made themselves
publick,
without making themselves
known."
A young student of Oxford, of the name of Barclay, wrote an answer to Kenrick's review of Johnson's Shakspeare. Johnson was at first angry that Kenrick's attack should have the credit of an answer. But afterwards, considering the young man's good intention, he kindly noticed him, and probably would have done more, had not the young man died.
In his Preface to Shakspeare, Johnson treated Voltaire very contemptuously, observing, upon some of his remarks,
"These are the petty criticisms of petty wits."
Voltaire, in revenge, made an attack upon Johnson, in one of his numerous literary sallies, which I remember to have read; but there being no general index to his voluminous works, have searched for it in vain, and therefore cannot quote it.
Voltaire was an antagonist with whom I thought Johnson should not disdain to contend. I pressed him to answer. He said, he perhaps might: but he never did.
Mr. Burney having occasion to write to Johnson for some receipts for subscriptions to his Shakspeare, which Johnson had omitted to deliver, when the money was paid, he availed himself of that opportunity of thanking Johnson for the great pleasure which he had received from the perusal of his Preface to Shakspeare; which although it excited much clamour against him at first, is now justly ranked among the most excellent of his writings. To this letter, Johnson returned the following answer:
To
CHARLES BURNEY,
Esq. in Poland-street.
SIR,
I AM sorry that your kindness to me has brought upon you so much trouble, though you have taken care to abate that sorrow, by the pleasure which I receive from your approbation. I defend my criticism in the same manner with you. We must confess the faults of our favourite, to gain credit to our praise of his excellencies. He that claims, either in himself or for another, the honours of perfection, will surely injure the reputation which he designs to assist.
Be pleased to make my compliments to your family.
I am, Sir, Your most obliged And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Oct. 16, 1765.
Trinity College, Dublin, at this time surprized Johnson with a spontaneous compliment of the highest academical honours, by creating him Doctor of Laws. The diploma, which is in my possession, is as follows:
OMNIBUS ad quos praesentes literae pervenerint, salutem. Nos Praepositus et Socii seniores Collegii sacrosanctae et individuae Trinitatis Regine Elizabethae juxta Dublin, testamur, Samueli Johnson, Armigero, ob egregiam scriptorum elegantiam et utilitatem, gratiam concessam fuisse pro gradu Doctoratûs in utroque Jure, octavo die Julii, Anno Domini millesimo septingentesimo sexagesimo-quinto. In cujus rei testimonium singularum manus et sigillum quo in hisce utimur apposuimus; vicesimo tertio die Julii, Anno Domini millesimo septingentesimo sexagesimo-quinto.
GUL. CLEMENT.
THO. WILSON.
THO. LELAND.
R. MURRAY.
ROBTUS . LAW.
MICH. KEARNEY."
FRAN. ANDREWS.
Praeps .
This unsolicited mark of distinction, conferred on so great a literary character, did much honour to the judgement and liberal spirit of that learned body. Johnson acknowledged the favour in a letter to Dr. Leland, one of their number; but I have not been able to obtain a copy of it.
Both in 1764 and 1765 it should seem that he was so busily employed with his edition of Shakspeare, as to have had little leisure for any other literary exertion, or, indeed, even for private correspondence. He did not favour me with a single letter for more than two years, for which it will appear that he afterwards apologised.
He was, however, at all times ready to give assistance to his friends, and others, in revising their works, and in writing for them▪ or greatly improving their Dedications. In that courtly species of composition no man excelled Dr. Johnson. Though the loftiness of his mind prevented him from ever dedicating in his own▪ person, he wrote a very great number of Dedications for others. Some of these, the persons who were favoured with them are unwilling should be mentioned, from a too anxious apprehension, as I think, that they might be suspected of having received larger assistance; and some, after all the diligence I have bestowed, have escaped my inquiries. He told me, a great many years ago,
"he believed he had dedicated to all the Royal Family round;''
and it was indifferent to him what was the subject of the work dedicated, provided it were innocent. He once dedicated some Musick for the German Flute to Edward Duke of York. In writing Dedications for others, he considered himself as by no means speaking his own sentiments.
Notwithstanding his long silence, I never omitted to write to him when I had any thing worthy of communicating. I generally kept copies of my letters to him, that I might have a full view of our correspondence, and never be at a loss to understand any reference in his letters. He kept the greater part of mine very carefully; and a short time before his death was attentive enough to seal them up in bundles, and order them to be delivered to me, which was accordingly done. Amongst them I found one, of which I had not made a copy, and which I own I read with pleasure at the distance of almost twenty years. It is dated November, 1765, at the palace of Pascal Paoli, in Corte, the capital of Corsica, and is full of generous enthusiasm. After giving a sketch of what I had seen and heard in that island, it proceeded thus:
"I dare to call this a spirited tour. I dare to challenge your approbation."
This letter produced the following answer, which I found on my arrival at Paris.
A Mr. Mr.
BOSWELL,
chez Mr.
WATERS,
Banquier, à Paris.
DEAR SIR,
APOLOGIES are seldom of any use. We will delay till your arrival the reasons, good or bad, which have made me such a sparing and ungrateful correspondent. Be assured, for the present, that nothing has lessened either the esteem or love with which I dismissed you at Harwich. Both have been increased by all that I have been told of you by yourself or others; and when you return, you will return to an unaltered, and, I hope, unalterable friend.
All that you have to fear from me is the vexation of disappointing me. No man loves to frustrate expectations which have been formed in his favour; and the pleasure which I promise myself from your journals and remarks is so great, that perhaps no degree of attention or discernment will be sufficient to afford it.
Come home, however, and take your chance. I long to see you, and to▪ hear you; and hope that we shall not be so long separated again. Come home, and expect such a welcome as is due to him, whom a wise and noble curiosity has led, where perhaps no native of this country ever was before.
I have no news to tell you that can deserve your notice; nor would I willingly lessen the pleasure that any novelty may give you at your return. I am afraid we shall find it difficult to keep among us a mind which has been▪ so long feasted with variety. But let us try what esteem and kindness can effect.
As your father's liberality has indulged you with so long a ramble, I doubt not but you will think his sickness, or even his desire to see you, a sufficient reason for hastening your return. The longer we live, and the more we think, the higher value we learn to put on the friendship and tenderness of parents and of friends. Parents we can have but once; and he promises himself too much, who enters life with the expectation of finding many friends. Upon some motive, I hope, that you will be here soon; and am willing to think that it will be an inducement to your return, that it is sincerely desired by,
dear Sir,
Your affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Johnson's-court, Fleet-street,
January 14, 1766.
I returned to London in February, and found Dr. Johnson in a good house in Johnson's-court, Fleet-street, in which he had accommodated Miss Williams with an apartment on the ground floor, while Mr. Levett occupied his post in the garret: his faithful Francis was still attending upon him. He received me with much kindness. The fragments of our first conversation, which I have preserved, are these: I told him that Voltaire, in a conversation with me, had distinguished Pope and Dryden thus:—
"Pope drives a handsome chariot, with a couple of neat trim nags; Dryden a coach, and six stately horses."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, the truth is, they both drive coaches and six; but Dryden's horses are either galloping or stumbling: Pope's go at a steady even trot
It is remarkable, that Mr. Gray has employed▪ somewhat the same image to characterise Dryden. He, indeed, furnishes his car with but two horses; but they are of ethereal race:
"Behold where Dryden's less presumptuous car,
"Wide o'er the fields of glory bear
"Two coursers of ethereal race,
"With necks in thunder cloath'd, and long-resounding pace."
Ode on the Progress of Poesy.
."
He said of Goldsmith's Traveller, which had been published in my absence,
"There has not been so fine a poem since Pope's time."
And here it is proper to settle, with authentick precision, what has long floated in publick report, as to Johnson's being himself the authour of a considerable part of that poem. Much, no doubt, both of the sentiments and expression, were derived from conversation with him; and it was certainly submitted to his friendly revision: but in the year 1783, he, at my request, marked with a pencil the lines which he had furnished, which are only line 420,
"To stop too fearful, and too faint to go;"
and the concluding ten lines, except the last couplet but one, which I distinguish by the Italick character:
" How small of all that human hearts endure,
" That part which kings or laws can cause or cure.
" Still to ourselves in every place consign'd,
" Our own felicity we make or find;
" With secret course, which no loud storms annoy,
" Glides the smooth current of domestick joy.
" The lifted axe, the agonizing wheel,
" Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of steel,
" To men remote from power, but rarely known,
" Leave reason, faith, and conscience, all our own."
He added,
"These are all of which I can be sure."
They bear a small proportion to the whole, which consists of four hundred and thirty-eight verses. Goldsmith, in the couplet which he inserted, mentions
Luke
as a person well known, and superficial readers have passed it over quite smoothly; while those of more attention have been as much perplexed by
Luke,
as by
Lydiat,
in
"The Vanity of human Wishes."
The truth is, that Goldsmith himself was in a mistake. In the
"Respublica Hungarica,"
there is an account of a desperate rebellion in the year 1514, headed by two brothers, of the name of
Zeck,
George and Luke. When it was quelled,
George,
not
Luke,
was punished by his head being encircled with a red hot iron crown:
"coronâ condescente ferreâ coronatur."
The same severity of torture was exercised on the Earl of Athol, one of the murderers of King James I. of Scotland.
Dr. Johnson at the same time favoured me by marking the lines which he furnished to Goldsmith's
"Deserted Village,"
which are only the four last:
"That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay,
"As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away:
"While self-dependent power can time defy,
"As rocks resist the billows and the sky."
Talking of education,
"People have now a days, (said he,) got a strange opinion that every thing should be taught by lectures. Now, I cannot see that lectures can do so much good as reading the books from which the lectures are taken. I know nothing that can be best taught by lectures, except where experiments are to be shewn. You may teach chymistry by lectures.—You might teach making of shoes by lectures!"
At night I supped with him at the Mitre tavern, that we might renew our social intimacy at the original place of meeting. But there was now a considerable differencé in his way of living. Having had an illness, in which he was advised to leave off wine, he had, from that period, continued to abstain from it, and drank only water, or lemonade.
I told him that a foreign friend of his, whom I had met with abroad, was so wretchedly perverted to infidelity, that he treated the hopes of immortality with brutal levity; and said,
"As man dies like a dog, let him lie like a dog."
JOHNSON.
"If
he dies like a dog,
let
him lie like a dog."
I added, that this man said to me,
"I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, he must be very singular in his opinion, if he thinks himself one of the best of men; for none of his friends think him so."
He said,
"No honest man could be a Deist; for no man could be so after a fair examination of the proofs of Christianity."
I named Hume. JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; Hume owned to a clergyman in the bishoprick of Durham, that he had never read the New Testament with attention."
I mentioned Hume's notion, that all who are happy are equally happy; a little miss with a new gown at a dancing-school ball, a general at the head of a victorious army, and an orator, after having made an eloquent speech in a great assembly. JOHNSON.
"Sir, that all who are happy, are equally happy, is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally
satisfied,
but not equally
happy.
Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness. A peasant has not capacity for having equal happiness with a philosopher."
I remember this very question very happily illustrated in opposition to Hume, by the Reverend Mr. Robert Brown, at Utrecht.
"A small drinking glass and a large one, (said he,) may be equally full; but the large one holds more than the small."
Dr. Johnson was very kind this evening, and said to me,
"You have now lived five-and-twenty years, and you have employed them well."
"Alas, Sir, (said I,) I fear not. Do I know history? Do I know mathematicks? Do I know law?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, though you may know no science so well as to be able to teach it, and no profession so well as to be able to follow it, your general mass of knowledge of books and men renders you very capable to make yourself master of any science, or fit yourself for any profession."
I mentioned that a gay friend had advised me against being a lawyer, because I should be excelled by plodding blockheads. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, in the formulary and statutory part of law, a plodding blockhead may excel; but in the ingenious and rational part of it a plodding blockhead can never excel."
I talked of the mode adopted by some to rise in the world, by courting great men, and asked him whether he had ever submitted to it. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I never was near enough to great men to court them. You may be prudently attached to great men, and yet independent. You are not to do what you think wrong; and, Sir, you are to calculate and not pay too dear for what you get. You must not give a shilling's worth of court for six-pence worth of good. But if you can get a shilling's worth of good for six-pence worth of court, you are a fool if you do not pay court."
He said,
"If convents should be allowed at all, they should only be retreats for persons unable to serve the publick, or who have served it. It is our first duty to serve society, and, after we have done that, we may attend wholly to the salvation of our own souls. A youthful passion for abstracted devotion should not be encouraged."
I introduced the subject of second sight, and other mysterious manifestations; the fulfilment of which, I suggested might happen by chance. JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir; but they have happened so often, that mankind have agreed to think them not fortuitous."
I talked to him a great deal of what I had seen in Corsica, and of my intention to publish an account of it. He encouraged me by saying,
"You cannot go to the bottom of the subject; but all that you tell us will be new to us. Give us as many anecdotes as you can."
Our next meeting at the Mitre was on Saturday the 15th of February, when I presented to him my old and most intimate friend, the Reverend Mr. Temple, then of Cambridge. I having mentioned that I had passed some time with Rousseau in his wild retreat, and having quoted some remark made by Mr. Wilkes, with whom I had spent many pleasant hours in Italy, Johnson said, (sarcastically,)
"It seems, Sir, you have kept very good company abroad, Rousseau and Wilkes!"
Thinking it enough to defend one at a time, I said nothing as to my gay friend, but answered with a smile,
"My dear Sir, you don't call Rousseau bad company. Do you really think
him
a bad man?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, if you are talking jestingly of this, I don't talk with you. If you mean to be serious, I think him one of the worst of men; a rascal, who ought to be hunted out of society, as he has been. Three or four nations have expelled him; and it is a shame that he is protected in this country."
BOSWELL.
"I don't deny, Sir, but that his novel may, perhaps, do harm; but I cannot think his intention was bad."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, that will not do. We cannot prove any man's intention to be bad. You may shoot a man through the head, and say you intended to miss him; but the Judge will order you to be hanged. An alledged want of intention, when evil is committed, will not be allowed in a court of justice. Rousseau, Sir, is a very bad man. I would sooner sign a sentence for his transportation, than that of any felon who has gone from the Old Bailey these many years. Yes, I should like to have him work in the plantations."
BOSWELL.
"Sir, do you think him as bad a man as Voltaire?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, it is difficult to settle the proportion of iniquity between them."
This violence seemed very strange to me, who had read many of Rousseau's animated writings with great pleasure, and even edification, had been much pleased with his society, and was just come from the Continent, where he was very generally admired. Nor can I yet allow that he deserves the very severe censure which Johnson pronounced upon him. His absurd preference of savage to civilised life, and other singularities, are proofs rather of a defect in his understanding, than of any depravity in his heart. And notwithstanding the unfavourable opinion which many worthy men have expressed of his
"Profession de Foi du Vicaire Savoyard,"
I cannot help admiring it as the performance of a man full of sincere reverential submission to Divine Mystery, though beset with perplexing doubts; a state of mind to be▪ viewed with pity rather than with anger.
On his favourite subject of subordination, Johnson said,
"So far is it from being true that men are naturally equal, that no two people can be half an hour together, but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other."
I mentioned the advice given us by philosophers, to console ourselves, when distressed or embarrassed, by thinking of those who are in a worfe situation than ourselves. This, I observed, could not apply to all, for there must be some who have nobody worse than they are. JOHNSON.
"Why to be sure, Sir, there are; but they don't know it. There is no being so poor and so contemptible, who does not think there is somebody still poorer, and still more contemptible."
As my stay in London at this time was very short, I had not many opportunities of being with Dr. Johnson; but I felt my veneration for him in no degree lessened, by my having seen
multorum hominum mores et urbes.
On the contrary, by having it in my power to compare him with many of the most celebrated persons of other countries, my admiration of his extraordinary mind was increased and confirmed.
The roughness, indeed, which sometimes appeared in his manners, was more striking to me now, from my having been accustomed to the studied smooth complying habits of the Continent; and I clearly recognised in him, not without respect for his honest conscientious zeal, the same indignant and sarcastical mode of treating every▪ attempt to unhinge or weaken good principles.
One evening, when a young gentleman teized him with an account of the infidelity of his servant, who, he said, would not believe the scriptures, because he could not read them in the original tongues, and be sure that they were not invented.
"Why, foolish fellow, (said Johnson,) has he any better authority for almost every thing that he believes?"
—
"Then the vulgar, Sir, never can know they are right, but must submit themselves to the learned."
—JOHNSON.
"To be sure, Sir. The vulgar are the children of the state, and must be taught like children."
—
"Then, Sir, a poor Turk must be a Mahometan, just as a poor Englishman must be a Christian?"
—JOHNSON.
"Why yes, Sir; and what then? This now is such stuff as I used to talk to my mother, when I first began to think myself a clever fellow; and she ought to have whipt me for it."
Another evening Dr. Goldsmith and I called on him, with the hope of prevailing on him to sup with us at the Mitre. We found him indisposed, and resolved not to go abroad.
"Come then, (said Goldsmith,) we will not go to the Mitre to-night, since we cannot have the big man with us."
Johnson then called for a bottle of port, of which Goldsmith and I partook, while our friend, now a water drinker sat by us. GOLDSMITH.
"I think, Mr. Johnson, you don't go near the theatres now. You give yourself no more concern about a new play, than if you had never had any thing to do with the stage."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, our tastes greatly alter. The lad does not care for the child's rattle, and the old man does not care for the young man's whore."
GOLDSMITH.
"Nay, Sir; but your Muse was not a whore."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, I do not think she was. But as we advance in the journey of life, we drop some of the things which have pleased us; whether it be that we are fatigued and don't choose to carry so many things any farther, or that we find other things which we like better."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, why don't you give us something in some other way?"
GOLDSMITH.
"Ay, Sir, we have a claim upon you."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir, I am not obliged to do any more. No man is obliged to do as much as he can do. A man is to have part of his life to himself. If a soldier has fought a good many campaigns, he is not to be blamed if he retires to ease and tranquillity. A physician, who has practised long in a great city, may be excused if he retires to a small town, and takes less practice. Now, Sir, the good I can do by my conversation bears the same proportion to the good I can do by my writings, that the practice of a physician, retired to a small town, does to his practice in a great city."
BOSWELL.
"But I wonder, Sir, you have not more pleasure in writing than in not writing."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, you
may
wonder."
He talked of making verses, and observed,
"The great difficulty is to know when you have made good ones. When composing, I have generally had them in my mind, perhaps fifty at a time, walking up and down in my room; and then I have wrote them down, and often, from laziness, have written only half lines. I have written a hundred lines in a day. I remember I wrote a hundred lines of
"The Vanity of human Wishes"
in a day. Doctor, (turning to Goldsmith,) I am not quite idle; I made one line t'other day; but I made no more."
GOLDSMITH.
"Let us hear it; we'll put a bad one to it."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; I have forgot it."
Such specimens of the easy and playful conversation of the great Dr. Samuel Johnson are, I think, to be prized; as exhibiting the little varieties of a mind so enlarged and so powerful when objects of consequence required its exertions, and as giving us a minute knowledge of his character and modes of thinking.
After I had been some time in Scotland, I mentioned to him in a letter that
"On my first return to my native country, after some years of absence, I was told of a vast number of my acquaintance who were all gone to the land of forgetfulness, and I found myself like a man stalking over a field of battle, who every moment perceives some one lying dead."
I complained of irresolution, and mentioned my having made a vow as a security for good conduct. I wrote to him again, without being able to move his indolence; nor did I hear from him till he had received a copy of my inaugural Exercise, or Thesis in Civil Law, which I published at my admission as an Advocate, as is the custom in Scotland. He then wrote to me as follows:
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
THE reception of your Thesis put me in mind of my debt to you. Why did you *************
The passage omitted alluded to a private transaction.
. I will punish you for it, by telling you that your Latin wants correction
This censure of my Latin relates to the Dedication, which was as follows:
VIRO NOBILISSIMO, ORNATISSIMO, JOANNI, VICECOMITI MOUNTSTUART, ATAVIS EDITO REGIBUS, EXCELSAE FAMILIAE DE BUTE SPEI ALTERAE; LABENTE SECULO, QUUM HOMINES NULLIUS ORIGINIS GENUS AEQUARE OPIBUS AGGREDIUNTUR, SANGUINIS ANTIQUI ET ILLUSTRIS SEMPER MEMORI, NATALIUM SPLENDOREM VIRTUTIBUS AUGENTI: AD PUBLICA POPULI COMITIA JAM LEGATO; IN OPTIMATIUM VERO MAGNAE BRITANNIAE SENATU, JURE HAEREDITARIO, OLIM CONSESSURO: VIM INSITAM VARIA DOCTRINA PROMOVENTE, NEC TAMEN SE VENDITANTE, PRAEDITO: PRISCA FIDE, ANIMO LIBERRIMO, ET MORUM ELEGANTIA INSIGNI: IN ITALIAE VISITANDAE ITINERE, SOCIO SUO HONORATISSIMO, HASCE JURISPRUDENTIAE PRIMITIAS DEVINCTISSIMAE AMICITIAE ET OBSERVANTIAE MONUMENTUM, D. D. C Q. JACOBUS BOSWELL.
. In the beginning,
Spei
alterae,
not to urge that it should be
primae,
is not grammatical:
alterae
should be
alteri.
In the next line you seem to use
genus
absolutely, for what we call
family,
that is, for
illustrious extraction,
I doubt without authority.
Homines nullius originis,
for
Nullis orti majoribus,
or,
Nullo loco nati,
is, I am afraid, barbarous.—Ruddiman is dead.
I have now vexed you enough, and will try to please you. Your resolution to obey your father I sincerely approve; but do not accustom yourself to enchain your volatility by vows: they will sometime leave a thorn in your mind, which you will, perhaps, never be able to extract or eject. Take this warning, it is of great importance.
The study of the law is what you very justly term it, copious and generous
This alludes to the first sentence of the
Proaemium
of my Thesis.
"
JURISPRUDENTIAE
studio nullum uberius, nullum generosius: in legibus enim agitandis, populorum mores, variasque fortunae vices ex quibus leges oriuntur, contemplari simul solemus."
; and in adding your name to its professors, you have done exactly what I always wished, when I wished you best. I hope that you will continue to pursue it vigorously and constantly. You gain, at least, what is no small advantage, security from those troublesome and wearisome discontents, which are always obtruding themselves upon a mind vacant, unemployed, and undetermined.
You ought to think it no small inducement to diligence and perseverance, that they will please your father. We all live upon the hope of pleasing somebody; and the pleasure of pleasing ought to be greatest, and at last always will be greatest, when our endeavours are exerted in consequence of our duty.
Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent; deliberation, which those who begin it by prudence, and continue it with subtilty, must, after long expence of thought, conclude by chance. To prefer one future mode of life to another, upon just reasons, requires faculties which it has not pleased our Creator to give us.
If, therefore, the profession you have chosen has some unexpected inconveniencies, console yourself by reflecting that no profession is without them; and that all the importunities and perplexities of business are softness and luxury, compared with the incessant cravings of vacancy, and the unsatisfactory expedients of idleness.
'Haec sunt quae nostrâ potui te voce monere;
'Vade, age.'
As to your History of Corsica, you have no materials which others have not, or may not have. You have, somehow or other, warmed your imagination. I wish there were some cure, like the lover's leap, for all heads of which some single idea has obtained an unreasonable and irregular possession. Mind your own affairs, and leave the Corsicans to theirs.
I am, dear Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
Aug. 21, 1766.
To Dr.
SAMUEL JOHNSON.
Much esteemed and dear Sir,
Auchinleck,
Nov. 6, 1766.
I PLEAD not guilty to
The passage omitted explained the transaction to which the preceding letter had alluded.
****************************.
Having thus, I hope cleared myself of the charge brought against me, I presume you will not be displeased if I escape the punishment which you have decreed for me unheard. If you have discharged the arrows of criticism against an innocent man, you must rejoice to find they have missed him, or have not been pointed so as to wound him.
To talk no longer in allegory, I am, with all deference, going to offer a few observations in defence of my Latin, which you have found fault with.
You think I should have used
spei primae,
instead of
spei alterae. Spes
is, indeed, often used to express something on which we have a future dependence, as in Virg. Eclog. i. l. 14,
'—modo namque gemellos
'Spem
gregis ah silice in nudâ connixa reliquit.'
and in Georg. iii. l. 473,
'Spemque
gregemque simul,'
for the lambs and the sheep. Yet it is also used to express any thing on which we have a present dependence, and is well applied to a man of distinguished influence, our support, our refuge, our
praesidium,
as Horace calls Maecenas. So, Aeneid xii. l. 57, Queen Amata addresses her son-in-law Turnus:—'Spes
tu nunc una;'
and he was then no future hope, for she adds,
'—decus imperiumque Latini
'Te penes.'
which might have been said of my Lord Bute some years ago. Now I consider the present Earl of Bute to be
'Excelsae familiae de Bute
spes prima;' and my Lord Mountstuart, as his eldest son, to be
'spes altera.'
So in Aeneid xii. l. 168, after having mentioned Pater Aeneas, who was the
present
spes, the
reigning
spes, as my German friends would say, the
spes prima,
the poet adds,
'Et juxta Ascanius, magnae
spes altera
Romae.'
You think
alterae
ungrammatical, and you tell me it should have been
alteri.
You must recollect, that in old times
alter
was declined regularly; and when the ancient fragments preserved in the
Juris Civilis Fontes
were written, it was certainly declined in the way that I use it. This, I should think, may protect a lawyer who writes
alterae
in a dissertation upon part of his own science. But as I could hardly venture to quote fragments of old law to so classical a man as Mr. Johnson, I have not made an accurate search into these remains, to find examples of what I am able to produce in poetical composition. We find in Plaut. Rudens, act iii. scene 4,
'Nam huic
alterae
patria quae sit profecto nescio.'
Plautus is, to be sure, an old comick writer: but in the days of Scipio and Lelius, we find, Terent. Heautontim. act ii. scene 3,
'—hoc ipsa in itinere
alterae
'Dum narrat, forte audivi.'
You doubt my having authority for using
genus
absolutely, for what we call
family,
that is, for
illustrious extraction.
Now I take
genus
in Latin, to have much the same signification with
birth
in English; both in their primary meaning expressing simply descent, but both made to stand
, for noble descent.
Genus
is thus used in Hor. lib. ii. Sat. v. l. 8,
'Et
genus
et virtus, nisi cum re, vilior alga est.'
And in lib. i. Epist. vi. l. 37,
'Et
genus
et forman Regina pecunia donat.'
And in the celebrated contest between Ajax and Ulysses, Ovid's Metamorph. lib. xiii. l. 140,
'Nam
genus
et proavos, et quae non fecimus ipst,
'Vix ea nostra voco.'
Homines nullius originis,
for
nullis orti majoribus,
or
nullo loco nati,
is, you are afraid, barbarous.
Origo
is used to signify extraction, as in Virg. Aeneid i. l. 286,
'Nascetur pulchrâ Trojanus
origine
Caesar.'
and in Aeneid x. l. 618,
'Ille tamen nostrâ deducit
origine
nomen.'
and as
nullus
is used for obscure, is it not in the genius of the Latin language to write
nullius originis,
for obscure extraction?
I have defended myself as well as I could.
Might I venture to differ from you with regard to the utility of vows? I am sensible that it would be very dangerous to make vows rashly, and without a due consideration. But I cannot help thinking that they may often be of great advantage to one of a variable judgement and irregular inclinations. I always remember a passage in one of your letters to our Italian friend Baretti, where talking of the monastick life, you say you do not wonder that serious men should put themselves under the protection of a religious order, when they have found how unable they are to take care of themselves. For my own part, without affecting to be a Socrates, I am sure I have a more than ordinary struggle to maintain with
the Evil Principle;
and all the methods I can devise are little enough to keep me tolerably steady in the paths of rectitude.
* * * * * * *
I am ever, with the highest veneration, Your affectionate humble servant, JAMES BOSWELL.
It appears from his diary, that he was this year at Mr. Thrale's, from before Midsummer till after Michaelmas, and that he afterwards passed a month at Oxford. He had then contracted a great intimacy with Mr. Chambers of that University, now Sir Robert Chambers, one of the Judges in India.
He published nothing this year in his own name; but the noble Dedication * to the King, of Gwyn's
"London and Westminster Improved,"
was written by him; and he furnished the Preface, † and several of the pieces, which compose a volume of Miscellanies by Mrs. Anna Williams, the blind lady who had an asylum in his house. Of these, there are his
"Epitaph on Philips, *"
"Translation of a Latin Epitaph on Sir Thomas Hanmer; †"
"Friendship, an Ode; *"
and,
"The Ant, *"
a paraphrase from the Proverbs, of which I have a copy in his own hand-writing; and, from internal evidence, I ascribe to him,
"To Miss—on her giving the Authour a gold and silk net-work Purse of her own weaving; †"
and,
"The happy Life. †"
—Most of them have evidently received considerable additions from his superiour pen, particularly
"Verses to Mr. Richardson, on his Sir Charles Grandison;"
"The Excursion;"
"Reflections on a Grave digging in Westminster-Abbey."
There is in this collection a poem
"On the Death of Stephen Grey, the Electrician; *"
which, on reading it, appeared to me to be undoubtedly Johnson's. I asked Mrs. Williams whether it was not his.
"Sir, (said she, with some warmth,) I wrote that poem before I had the honour of Dr. Johnson's acquaintance."
I, however was so much impressed with my first notion, that I mentioned it to Johnson, repeating, at the same time, what Mrs. Williams had said. His answer was,
"It is true, Sir, that she wrote it before she was acquainted with me; but she has not told you that I wrote it all over again, except two lines."
"The Fountains, †"
a beautiful little Fairy tale in prose, written with exquisite simplicity, is one of Johnson's productions; and I cannot with-hold from Mrs. Thrale the praise of being the authour of that admirable poem,
"The Three Warnings."
He wrote this year a letter not intended for publication, which has, perhaps, as strong marks of his sentiment and style, as any of his compositions. The original is in my possession. It is addressed to the late Mr. William Drummond, bookseller in Edinburgh, a gentleman of good family, but small estate, who took arms for the house of Stuart in 1745; and during his concealment in London till the act of general pardon came out, obtained the acquaintance of Dr. Johnson, who justly esteemed him as a very worthy man. It seems, some of the members of the society in Scotland for propagating Christian knowledge had opposed the scheme of translating the holy scriptures into the Erse or Gaelick language, from political considerations of the disadvantage of keeping up the distinction between the Highlanders and the other inhabitants of North-Britain. Dr. Johnson being informed of this, I suppose by Mr. Drummond, wrote with a generous indignation as follows:
To Mr.
WILLIAM DRUMMOND.
SIR,
I DID not expect to hear that it could be, in an assembly convened for the propagation of Christian knowledge, a question whether any nation uninstructed in religion should receive instruction; or whether that instruction should be imparted to them by a translation of the holy books into their own language. If obedience to the will of GOD be necessary to happiness, and knowledge of his will be necessary to obedience, I know not how he that with-holds this knowledge, or delays it, can be said to love his neighbour as himself. He, that voluntarily continues ignorance, is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces; as to him, that should extinguish the tapers of a light-house, might justly be imputed the calamities of shipwrecks. Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity; and as no man is good but as he wishes the good of others, no man can be good in the highest degree, who wishes not to others the largest measures of the greatest good. To omit for a year, or for a day, the most efficacious method of advancing Christianity, in compliance with any purposes that terminate on this side of the grave, is a crime of which I know not that the world has yet had an example, except in the practice of the planters of America, a race of mortals whom, I suppose, no other man wishes to resemble.
The Papists have, indeed, denied to the laity the use of the bible; but this prohibition, in few places now very rigorously enforced, is defended by arguments, which have for their foundation the care of souls. To obscure, upon motives merely political, the light of revelation, is a practice reserved for the reformed; and, surely, the blackest midnight of popery is meridian sunshine to such a reformation. I am not very willing that any language should be totally extinguished. The similitude and derivation of languages afford the most indubitable proof of the traduction of nations, and the genealogy of mankind. They add often physical certainty to historical evidence; and often supply the only evidence of ancient migrations, and of the revolutions of ages which left no written monuments behind them.
Every man's opinions, at least his desires, are a little influenced by his favourite studies. My zeal for languages may seem, perhaps, rather overheated, even to those by whom I desire to be well esteemed. To those who have nothing in their thoughts but trade or policy, present power, or present money, I should not think it necessary to defend my opinions; but with men of letters I would not unwillingly compound, by wishing the continuance of every language, however narrow in its extent, or however incommodious for common purposes, till it is reposited in some version of a known book, that it may be always hereafter examined and compared with other languages, and then permitting its disuse. For this purpose, the translation of the bible is most to be desired. It is not certain that the same method will not preserve the Highland language, for the purposes of learning, and abolish it from daily use. When the Highlanders read the Bible, they will naturally wish to have its obscurities cleared, and to know the history, collateral or appendant. Knowledge always desires increase: it is like fire, which must first be kindled by some external agent, but which will afterwards propagate itself. When they once desire to learn, they will naturally have recourse to the nearest language by which that desire can be gratified; and one will tell another that if he would attain knowledge, he must learn English.
This speculation may, perhaps, be thought more subtle than the grossness of real life will easily admit. Let it, however, be remembered, that the efficacy of ignorance has been long tried, and has not produced the consequence expected. Let knowledge, therefore, take its turn; and let the patrons of privation stand awhile aside, and admit the operation of positive principles.
You will be pleased, Sir, to assure the worthy man who is employed in the new translation, that he has my wishes for his success; and if here or at Oxford I can be of any use, that I shall think it more than honour to promote his undertaking.
I am sorry that I delayed so long to write.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Johnson's-court, Fleet-street,
Aug. 13, 1766.
The opponents of this pious scheme being made ashamed of their conduct, the benevolent undertaking was allowed to go on.
The following letters, though not written till the year after, being chiefly upon the same subject, are here inserted.
To Mr.
WILLIAM DRUMMOND.
DEAR SIR,
THAT my letter should have had such effects as you mention, gives me great pleasure. I hope you do not flatter me by imputing to me more good than I have really done. Those whom my arguments have persuaded to change their opinion, show such modesty and candour as deserve great praise.
I hope the worthy translator goes diligently forward. He has a higher reward in prospect, than any honours which this world can bestow. I wish I could be useful to him.
The publication of my letter, if it could be of use in a cause to which all other causes are nothing, I should not prohibit. But first, I would have you consider whether the publication will really do any good; next, whether by printing and distributing a very small number, you may not attain all that you propose; and, what perhaps I should have said first, whether the letter, which I do not now perfectly remember, be fit to be printed.
If you can consult Dr. Robertson, to whom I am a little known, I shall be satisfied about the propriety of whatever he shall direct. If he thinks that it should be printed, I entreat him to revise it; there may, perhaps, be some negligent lines written, and whatever is amiss, he knows very well how to rectify
This paragraph shews Johnson's real estimation of the character and abilities of the celebrated Scottish Historian, however lightly, in a moment of caprice, he may have spoken of his works.
.
Be pleased to let me know, from time to time, how this excellent design goes forward.
Make my compliments to young Mr. Drummond, whom I hope you will live to see such as you desire him.
I have not lately seen Mr. Elphinston, but believe him to be prosperous. I shall be glad to hear the same of you,
for I am, Sir, Your affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Johnson's-court, Fleet-street,
April 21, 1767.
To the same.
SIR,
I RETURNED this week from the country, after an absence of near six months, and found your letter, with many others, which I should have answered sooner, if I had sooner seen them.
Dr. Robertson's opinion was surely right. Men should not be told of the faults which they have mended. I am glad the old language is taught, and honour the translator as a man whom GOD has distinguished by the high office of propagating his word.
I must take the liberty of engaging you in an office of charity. Mrs. Heely, the wife of Mr. Heely, who had lately some office in your theatre, is my near relation, and now in great distress. They wrote me word of their situation some time ago, to which I returned them an answer which raised hopes of more than it is proper for me to give them. Their representation of their affairs I have discovered to be such as cannot be trusted; and at this distance, though their case requires haste, I know not how to act. She, or her daughters, may be heard of at Canongate Head. I must beg, Sir, that you will enquire after them, and let me know what is to be done. I am willing to go to ten pounds, and will transmit you such a sum, if upon examination you find it likely to be of use. If they are in immediate want, advance them what you think proper. What I could do, I would do for the women, having no great reason to pay much regard to Heely himself
This is the person concerning whom Sir John Hawkins has thrown out very unwarrantable reflections both against Dr. Johnson and Mr. Francis Barber.
.
I believe you may receive some intelligence from Mrs. Baker, of the theatre, whose letter I received at the same time with yours, and to whom, if you see her, you will make my excuse for the seeming neglect of answering her.
Whatever you advance within ten pounds shall be immediately returned to you, or paid as you shall order. I trust wholly to your judgement.
I am, Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
London, Johnson's-court, Fleet-street,
Oct. 24, 1767.
Mr. Cuthbert Shaw
See an account of him in the European Magazine, January, 1786.
, alike distinguished by his genius, misfortunes, and misconduct, published this year a poem, called
"The Race, by Mercurius Spur, Esq."
in which he whimsically made the living poets of England contend for pre-eminence of fame by running:
"Prove by their heels the prowess of the head."
In this poem there was the following portrait of Johnson:
"Here Johnson comes,—unblest with outward grace,
"His rigid morals stamp'd upon his face.
"While strong conceptions struggle in his brain;
"(For even Wit is brought to-bed with pain):
"To view him, porters with their loads would rest,
"And babes cling frighted to the nurse's breast.
"With looks convuls'd, he roars in pompous strain,
"And, like an angry lion, shakes his mane.
"The Nine, with terror struck, who ne'er had seen,
"Aught human with so horrible a mien,
"Debating whether they should stay or run,
"Virtue steps forth, and claims him for her son.
"With gentle speech she warns him now to yield,
"Nor stain his glories in the doubtful field;
"But wrapt in conscious worth, content sit down,
"Since Fame, resolv'd his various▪ pleas to crown,
"Though forc'd his present claim to disavow,
"Had long reserv'd a chaplet for his brow.
"He bows, obeys; for Time shall first expire,
"Ere Johnson stay, when Virtue bids retire."
The Honourable Thomas Hervey and his lady having unhappily disagreed, and being about to separate, Johnson interfered as their friend, and wrote him a letter of expostulation, which I have not been able to find; but the substance of it is ascertained by a letter to Johnson, in answer to it, which Mr. Hervey printed. The occasion of this correspondence between Dr. Johnson and Mr. Hervey, was thus related to me by Mr. Beauclerk.
"Tom Hervey had a great liking for Johnson, and in his will had left him a legacy of fifty pounds. One day he said to me, 'Johnson may want this money now, more than afterwards. I have a mind to give it him directly. Will you be so good as to carry a fifty pound note from me to him?' This I positively refused to do, as he might, perhaps, have knocked me down for insulting him, and have afterwards put the note in his pocket. But I said, if Hervey would write him a letter, and enclose a fifty pound note, I should take care to deliver it. He accordingly did write him a letter, mentioning that he was only paying a legacy a little sooner. To his letter he added,
'P. S. I am going to part with my wife.'
Johnson then wrote to him, saying nothing of the note, but remonstrating with him against parting with his wife."
When I mentioned to Johnson this story, in as delicate terms as I could, he told me that the fifty pound note was given to him by Mr. Hervey in consideration of his having written for him a pamphlet against Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, who, Mr. Harvey imagined, was the authour of an attack upon him; but that it was afterwards discovered to be the work of a garretteer, who wrote
"The Fool:"
so the pamphlet against Sir Charles was not printed.
In February, 1767, there happened one of the most remarkable incidents of Johnson's life, which gratified his monarchical enthusiasm, and which he loved to relate with all its circumstances, when requested by his friends. This was his being honoured by a private conversation with his Majesty, in the library at the Queen's house. He had frequently visited those splendid rooms
and noble collection of books
Dr. Johnson had the honour of contributing his assistance towards the formation of this library; for I have read a long letter from him to Mr. Barnard, giving the most masterly instructions on the subject. I wished much to have gratified my readers with the perusal of this letter, and have reason to think that his Majesty would have been graciously pleased to permit its publication; but Mr. Barnard, to whom I applied, declined it
"on his own account."
, which he used to say was more numerous and curious than he supposed any person could have made in the time which the King had employed. Mr. Barnard, the librarian, took care that he should have every accommodation that could contribute to his ease and convenience, while indulging his literary taste in that place; so that he had here a very agreeable resource at leisure hours.
His Majesty having been informed of his occasional visits, was pleased to signify a desire that he should be told when Dr. Johnson came next to the library. Accordingly, the next time that Johnson did come, as soon as he was fairly engaged with a book, on which, while he sat by the fire, he seemed quite intent, Mr. Barnard stole round to the apartment where the King was, and, in obedience to his Majesty's commands, mentioned that Dr. Johnson was then in the library. His Majesty said he was at leisure, and would go to him; upon which Mr. Barnard took one of the candles that stood on the King's table, and lighted his Majesty through a suite of rooms, till they came to a private door into the library, of which his Majesty had the key. Being entered, Mr. Barnard stepped forward hastily to Dr. Johnson, who was still in a profound study, and whispered him,
"Sir, here is the King."
Johnson started up, and stood still. His Majesty approached him, and at once was courteously easy
The particulars of this conversation I have been at great pains to collect with the utmost authenticity, from Dr. Johnson's own detail to myself; from Mr. Langton, who was present when he gave an account of it to Dr. Joseph Warton, and several other friends, at Sir Joshua Reynolds's; from Mr. Barnard; from the copy of a letter written by the late Mr. Strahan the printer, to Bishop Warburton; and from a minute, the original of which is among the papers of the late Sir James Caldwell, and a copy of which was most obligingly obtained for me from his son Sir John Caldwell, by Sir Francis Lumm. To all these gentlemen I beg leave to make my grateful acknowledgements, and particularly to Sir Francis Lumm, who was pleased to take a great deal of trouble, and even had the minute laid before the King by Lord Caermarthen, now Duke of Leeds, one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, who announced to Sir Francis the Royal pleasure concerning it by a letter▪ in these words:
"I have the King's commands to assure you, Sir, how sensible his Majesty is of your attention in communicating the minute of the conversation previous to its publication. As there appears no objection to your complying with Mr. Boswell's wishes on the subject, you are at full liberty to deliver it to that gentleman, to make such use of in his Life of Dr. Johnson, as he may think proper."
.
His Majesty began by observing, that he understood he came sometimes to the library; and then mentioning his having heard that the Doctor had been lately at Oxford, asked him if he was not fond of going thither. To which Johnson answered, that he was indeed fond of going to Oxford sometimes, but was likewise glad to come back again. The King then asked him what they were doing at Oxford. Johnson answered, he could not much commend their diligence, but that in some respects they were mended, for they had put their press under better regulations, and were at that time printing Polybius. He was then asked whether there were better libraries at Oxford or Cambridge. He answered, he believed the Bodleian was larger than any they had at Cambridge; at the same time adding,
"I hope, whether we have more books or not than they have at Cambridge, we shall make as good use of them as they do."
Being asked whether All-Souls or Christ-Church library was the largest, he answered,
"All-Souls library is the largest we have, except the Bodleian."
"Aye, (said the King,) that is the publick library."
His Majesty enquired if he was then writing any thing. He answered, he was not, for he had pretty well told the world what he knew, and must now read to acquire more knowledge. The King, as it should seem with a view to urge him to rely on his own stores as an original writer, and to continue his labours, then said,
"I do not think you borrow much from any body."
Johnson said, he thought he had already done his part as a writer.
"I should have thought so too, (said the King,) if you had not written so well."
—Johnson observed to me, upon this, that
"No man could have paid a handsomer compliment; and it was fit for a King to pay. It was decisive."
When asked by another friend, at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, whether he made any reply to this high compliment, he answered,
"No, Sir. When the King had said it, it was to be so. It was not for me to bandy civilities with my sovereign."
Perhaps no man who had spent his whole life in courts could have shewn a more nice and dignified sense of true politeness, than Johnson did in this instance.
His Majesty having observed to him that he supposed he must have read a great deal; Johnson answered, that he thought more than he read; that he had read a great deal in the early part of his life, but having fallen into ill health, he had not been able to read much, compared with others: for instance, he said he had not read much compared with Dr. Warburton. Upon which the King said, that he heard Dr. Warburton was a man of such general knowledge, that you could scarce talk with him on any subject on which he was not qualified to speak; and that his learning resembled Garrick's acting, in its universality. His Majesty then talked of the controversy between Warburton and Lowth, which he seemed to have read, and asked Johnson what he thought of it. Johnson answered,
"Warburton has most general▪ most scholastick learning; Lowth is the more correct scholar. I do not know which of them calls names best."
The King was pleased to say he was of the same opinion; adding,
"You do not think then, Dr. Johnson, that there was much argument in the case."
Johnson said, he did not think there was.
"Why truly, (said the King,) when once it comes to calling names, argument is pretty well at an end."
His Majesty then asked him what he thought of Lord Lyttelton's history, which was then just published. Johnson said, he thought his style pretty good, but that he had blamed Henry the Second rather too much.
"Why, (said the King,) they seldom do these things by halves."
"No, Sir, (answered Johnson,) not to Kings."
But fearing to be misunderstood, he proceeded to explain himself; and immediately subjoined,
"That for those who spoke worse of Kings than they deserved, he could find no excuse, but that he could more easily conceive how some might speak better of them than they deserved, without any ill intention; for, as Kings had much in their power to give, those who were favoured by them would frequently, from gratitude, exaggerate their praises; and as this proceeded from a good motive, it was certainly excuseable, as far as errour could be excuseable."
The King then asked him what he thought of Dr. Hill. Johnson answered, that he was an ingenious man, but had no veracity; and immediately mentioned, as an instance of it, an assertion of that writer, that he had seen objects magnified to a much greater degree by using three or four microscopes at a time, than by using one.
"Now, (added Johnson,) every one acquainted with microscopes knows, that the more of them he looks through, the less the object will appear."
"Why, (replied the King,) this is not only telling an untruth, but telling it clumsily; for, if that be the case, every one who can look through a microscope will be able to detect him."
"I now, (said Johnson to his friends, when relating what had passed,) began to consider that I was depreciating this man in the estimation of his sovereign, and thought it was time for me to say something that might be more favourable."
He added, therefore, that Dr. Hill was, notwithstanding, a very curious observer; and if he would have been contented to tell the world no more than he knew, he might have been a very considerable man, and needed not to have recourse to such mean expedients to raise his reputation.
The King then talked of literary journals, mentioned particularly the
Journal des Savans,
and asked Johnson if it was well done. Johnson said, it was formerly very well done, and gave some account of the persons who began it, and carried it on for some years; enlarging at the same time, on the nature and use of such works. The King asked him if it was well done now. Johnson answered, he had no reason to think that it was. The King then asked him if there were any other literary journals published in this kingdom, except the Monthly and Critical Reviews; and on being answered there were no other, his Majesty asked which of them was the best: Johnson answered, that the Monthly Review was done with most care, the Critical upon the best principles; adding, that the authours of the Monthly Review were enemies to the Church. This the King said he was sorry to hear.
The conversation next turned on the Philosophical Transactions, when Johnson observed, that they had now a better method of arranging their materials than formerly.
"Aye, (said the King,) they are obliged to Dr. Johnson for that;"
for his Majesty had heard and remembered the circumstance, which Johnson himself had forgot.
His Majesty expressed a desire to have the literary biography of this country ably executed, and proposed to Dr. Johnson to undertake it. Johnson signified his readiness to comply with his Majesty's wishes.
During the whole of this interview, Johnson talked to his Majesty with profound respect, but still in his firm manly manner, with a sonorous voice, and never in that subdued tone which is commonly used at the levee and in the drawing-room. After the King withdrew, Johnson shewed himself highly pleased with his Majesty's conversation and gracious behaviour. He said to Mr. Barnard,
"Sir, they may talk of the King as they will; but he is the finest gentleman I have ever seen."
And he afterwards observed to Mr. Langton,
"Sir, his manners are those of as fine a gentleman as we may suppose Lewis the Fourteenth or Charles the Second."
At Sir Joshua Reynolds's, where a circle of Johnson's friends was collected round him to hear his account of this memorable conversation, Dr. Joseph Warton, in his frank and lively manner, was very active in pressing him to mention the particulars.
"Come now, Sir, this is an interesting matter; do favour us with it."
Johnson, with great good humour, complied.
He told them,
"I found his Majesty wished I should talk, and I made it my business to talk. I find it does a man good to be talked to by his sovereign. In the first place, a man cannot be in a passion—"
Here some question interrupted him, which is to be regretted, as he certainly would have pointed out and illustrated many circumstances of advantage, from being in a situation, where the powers of the mind are at once excited to vigorous exertion, and tempered by reverential awe.
During all the time in which Dr. Johnson was employed in relating to the circle at Sir Joshua Reynold's the particulars of what passed between the King and him, Dr. Goldsmith remained unmoved upon a sopha at some distance, affecting not to join in the least in the eager curiosity of the company. He assigned as a reason for his gloom and seeming inattention, that he apprehended Johnson had relinquished his purpose of furnishing him with a Prologue to his play, with the hopes of which he had been flattered; but it was strongly suspected that he was fretting with chagrin and envy at the singular honour Dr. Johnson had lately enjoyed. At length, the frankness and simplicity of his natural character prevailed. He sprung from the sopha, advanced to Johnson, and in a kind of flutter, from imagining himself in the situation which he had just been hearing described, exclaimed,
"Well, you acquitted yourself in this conversation better than I should have done; for I should have bowed and stammered through the whole of it."
I received no letter from Johnson this year; nor have I discovered any of the correspondence
It is proper here to mention, that when I speak of his correspondence, I consider it independent of the voluminous collection of letters which, in the course of many years, he wrote to Mrs. Thrale, which forms a separate part of his works; and as a proof of the high estimation set on any thing which came from his pen, was sold by that lady for the sum of five hundred pounds.
he had, except the two letters to Mr. Drummond, which have been inserted, for the sake of connection with that to the same gentleman in 1766. His diary affords no light as to his employment at this time. He passed three months at Lichfield; and I cannot omit an affecting and solemn scene there, as related by himself:
Sunday, Oct. 18, 1767. Yesterday, Oct. 17, at about ten in the morning, I took my leave for ever of my dear old friend, Catherine Chambers, who came to live with my mother about 1724, and has been but little parted from us since. She buried my father, my brother, and my mother. She is now fifty-eight years old.
I desired all to withdraw, then told her that we were to part for ever; that as Christians, we should part with prayer; and that I would, if she was willing, say a short prayer beside her. She expressed great desire to hear me; and held up her poor hands, as she lay in bed, with great fervour, while I prayed, kneeling by her, nearly in the following words:
Almighty and most merciful Father, whose loving-kindness is over all thy works, behold, visit, and relieve this thy servant, who is grieved with sickness. Grant that the sense of her weakness may add strength to her faith, and seriousness to her repentance. And grant that by the help of thy Holy Spirit, after the pains and labours of this short life, we may all obtain everlasting happiness, through JESUS CHRIST our Lord; for whose sake hear our prayers. Amen. Our Father, &c.
I then kissed her. She told me, that to part was the greatest pain that she had ever felt, and that she hoped we should meet again in a better place. I expressed, with swelled eyes, and great emotion of tenderness, the same hopes. We kissed, and parted. I humbly hope to meet again, and to part no more
Prayers and Meditations, p. 77 and 78.
.
By those who have been taught to look upon Johnson as a man of a harsh and stern character, let this tender and affectionate scene be candidly read; and let them then judge whether more warmth of heart, and grateful kindness, is often found in human nature.
We have the following notice in his devotional record:
"August 2, 1767. I have been disturbed and unsettled for a long time, and have been without resolution to apply to study or to business, being hindered by sudden snatches
Ibid. p. 73.
."
He, however, furnished Mr. Adams with a Dedication* to the King of that ingenious gentleman's
"Treatise on the Globes,"
conceived and expressed in such a manner as could not fail to be very grateful to a monarch, distinguished for his love of the sciences.
This year was published a ridicule of his style, under the title of
"Lexiphanes."
Sir John Hawkins ascribes it to Dr. Kenrick; but its authour was one Campbell, a Scotch purser in the navy. The ridicule consisted in applying Johnson's
"words of large meaning,"
to insignificant matters, as if one should put the armour of Goliath upon a dwarf. The contrast might be laughable; but the dignity of the armour must remain the same in all considerate minds. This malicious drollery, therefore, it may easily be supposed, could do no harm to its illustrious object.
It appears from his notes of the state of his mind
Ibid. p. 81.
, that he suffered great perturbation and distraction in 1768. Nothing of his writing was given to the publick this year, except the Prologue* to his friend Goldsmith's comedy of
"The Good-natured Man."
The first lines of this Prologue are strongly characteristical of the dismal gloom of his mind; which in his case, as in the case of all who are distressed with the same malady of imagination, transfers to others its own feelings. Who could suppose that it was to introduce a comedy, when Mr. Bensley solemnly began,
"Press'd with the load of life, the weary mind
"Surveys the general toil of human kind."
but this dark ground might make Goldsmith's humour shine the more.
In the spring of this year, having published my
"Account of Corsica, with the Journal of a Tour to that Island,"
I returned to London, very desirous to see Dr. Johnson, and hear him upon the subject. I found he was at Oxford, with his friend Mr. Chambers, who was now Vinerian Professor, and lived in New Inn Hall. Having had no letter from him since that in which he criticised the Latinity of my Thesis, and having been told by somebody that he was offended at my having put into my book an extract of his letter to me at Paris; I was impatient to be with him, and therefore followed him to Oxford, where I was entertained by Mr. Chambers, with a civility which I shall ever gratefully remember. I found that Dr. Johnson had sent a letter to me to Scotland, and that I had nothing to complain of but his being more indifferent to my anxiety than I wished him to be. Instead of giving, with the circumstances of time and place, such fragments of his conversation as I preserved during this visit to Oxford, I shall throw them together in continuation.
I asked him whether, as a moralist, he did not think that the practice of the law, in some degree, hurt the nice feeling of honesty. JOHNSON.
"Why no, Sir, if you act properly. You are not to deceive your clients with false representations of your opinion: you are not to tell lies to a judge."
BOSWELL.
"But what do you think of supporting a cause which you know to be bad?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, you do not know it to be good or bad till the Judge determines it. I have said that you are to state facts fairly; so that your thinking, or what you call knowing a cause to be bad, must be from reasoning, must be from your supposing your arguments to be weak and inconclusive. But, Sir, that is not enough. An argument which does not convince yourself, may convince the Judge to whom you urge it: and if it does convince him, why then, Sir, you are wrong, and he is right. It is his business to judge; and you are not to be confident in your own opinion that a cause is bad, but to say all you can for your client, and then hear the Judge's opinion."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, does not affecting a warmth when you have no warmth, and appearing to be clearly of one opinion when you are in reality of another opinion, does not such dissimulation impair one's honesty? Is there not some danger that a lawyer may put on the same mask in common life, in the intercourse with his friends?"
JOHNSON.
"Why no, Sir. Every body knows you are paid for affecting warmth for your client; and it is, therefore, properly no dissimulation: the moment you come from the bar you resume your usual behaviour. Sir, a man will no more carry the artifice of the bar into the common intercourse of society, than a man who is paid for tumbling upon his hands will continue to tumble upon his hands when he should walk on his feet."
Talking of some of the modern plays, he said
"False Delicacy"
was totally void of character. He praised Goldsmith's
"Good-natured Man;"
said, it was the best comedy that had appeared since
"The Provoked Husband,"
and that there had not been of late any such character exhibited on the stage as that of Croaker. I observed it was the Suspirius of his Rambler. He said, Goldsmith had owned he had borrowed it from thence.
"Sir, (continued he,) there is all the difference in the world between characters of nature and characters of manners; and
there
is the difference between the characters of Fielding and those of Richardson. Characters of manners are very entertaining; but they are to be understood, by a more superficial observer, than characters of nature, where a man must dive into the recesses of the human heart."
It always appeared to me that he estimated the compositions of Richardson too highly, and that he had an unreasonable prejudice against Fielding. In comparing those two writers, he used this expression;
"that there was as great a difference between them as between a man who knew how a watch was made, and a man who could tell the hour by looking on the dial-plate."
This was a short and figurative state of his distinction between drawing characters of nature and characters only of manners. But I cannot help being of opinion, that the neat watches of Fielding are as well constructed as the large clocks of Richardson, and that his dial-plates are brighter-Fielding's characters, though they do not expand themselves so widely in dissertation, are as just pictures of human nature, and I will venture to say, have more striking features, and nicer touches of the pencil; and though Johnson used to quote with approbation a saying of Richardson's,
"that the virtues of Fielding's heroes were the vices of a truly good man,"
I will venture to add, that the moral tendency of Fielding's writings, though it does not encourage a strained and rarely possible virtue, is ever favourable to honour and honesty, and cherishes the benevolent and generous affections. He who is as good as Fielding would make him, is an amiable member of society, and may be led on by more regulated instructors, to a higher state of ethical perfection.
Johnson proceeded:
"Even Sir Francis Wronghead is a character of manners, though drawn with great humour."
He then repeated, very happily, all Sir Francis's credulous account to Manly of his being with
"the great man,"
and securing a place. I asked him if the
"Suspicious Husband"
did not furnish a well-drawn character, that of Ranger. JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; Ranger is just a rake, a mere rake, and a lively young fellow, but no
character."
The great Douglas cause was at this time a very general subject of discussion. I found he had not studied it with much attention, but had only heard parts of it occasionally. He, however, talked of it, and said,
"I am of opinion that positive proof of fraud should not be required of the plaintiff, but that the Judges should decide according as probability shall appear to preponderate, granting to the defendant the presumption of filiation to be strong in his favour. And I think too, that a good deal of weight should be allowed to the dying declarations, because they were spontaneous. There is a great difference between what is said without our being urged to it, and what is said from a kind of compulsion. If I praise a man's book without being asked my opinion of it, that is honest praise, to which one may trust. But if an authour asks me if I like his book, and I give him something like praise, it must not be taken as my real opinion.
"I have not been troubled for a long time with authours desiring my opinion of their works. I used once to be sadly plagued with a man who wrote verses, but who literally had no other notion of a verse, but that it consisted of ten syllables.
Lay your knife and your fork across your plate,
was to him a verse:
Lay yō ur knife ā nd your fō rk, acrō ss your plā te.
As he wrote a great number of verses he sometimes by chance made good ones, though he did not know it."
He renewed his promise of coming to Scotland, and going with me to the Hebrides, but said he would now content himself with seeing one or two of the most curious of them. He said
"Macaulay, who writes the account of St. Kilda, set out with a prejudice against prejudices, and wanted to be a smart modern thinker; and yet he affirms for a truth, that when a ship arrives there all the inhabitants are seized with a cold."
He expatiated on the advantages of Oxford for learning.
"There is here, Sir, (said he,) such a progressive emulation. The students are anxious to appear well to their tutors; the tutors are anxious to have their pupils appear well in the college; the colleges are anxious to have their students appear well in the University; and there are excellent rules of discipline in every college. That the rules are sometimes ill observed, may be true; but is nothing against the system. The members of an University may, for a season, be unmindful of their duty. I am arguing for the excellency of the institution."
Of Guthrie he said,
"Sir, he is a man of parts. He has no great regular fund of knowledge; but by reading so long, and writing so long, he no doubt has picked up a good deal."
He said he had lately been a long while at Lichfield, but had grown very weary before he left it. BOSWELL.
"I wonder at that, Sir; it is your native place▪ "
JOHNSON.
"Why so is Scotland
your
native place."
His prejudice against Scotland appeared remarkably strong at this time. When I talked of our advancement in literature,
"Sir, (said he,) you have learnt a little from us, and you think yourselves very great men. Hume would never have written History, had not Voltaire written it before him. He is an echo of Voltaire."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, we have Lord Kames."
JOHNSON.
"You
have
Lord Kames. Keep him; ha, ha, ha! We don't envy you him. Do you ever see Dr. Robertson?"
BOSWELL.
"Yes, Sir."
JOHNSON.
"Does the dog talk of me?"
BOSWELL.
"Indeed, Sir, he does, and loves you."
Thinking that I now had him in a corner, and being solicitous for the literary fame of my country, I pressed him for his opinion on the merit of Dr. Robertson's History of Scotland. But, to my surprize, he escaped.—
"Sir, I love Robertson, and I won't talk of his book."
It is but justice both to him and Dr. Robertson to add, that though he indulged himself in this sally of wit, he had too good taste not to be fully sensible of the merits of that admirable work.
An essay, written by Mr. Deane, a divine of the Church of England, maintaining the future life of brutes, by an explication of certain parts of the scriptures, was mentioned, and the doctrine insisted on by a gentleman who seemed fond of curious speculation. Johnson, who did not like to hear of any thing concerning a future state which was not authorised by the regular canons of orthodoxy, discouraged this talk; and being offended at its continuation, he watched an opportunity to give the gentleman a blow of reprehension. So, when the poor speculatist, with a serious metaphysical pensive face, addressed him,
"But really, Sir, when we see a very sensible dog, we don't know what to think of him."
Johnson, rolling with joy at the thought, which beamed in his eye, turned quickly round, and replied,
"True, Sir: and when we see a very foolish
fellow,
we don't know what to think of
him."
He then rose up, strided to the fire, and stood for some time laughing and exulting.
I told him that I had several times, when in Italy, seen the experiment of placing a scorpion within a circle of burning coals; that it ran round and round in extreme pain; and finding no way to escape, retired to the centre, and, like a true Stoick philosopher, darted its sting into its head, and thus at once freed itself from its woes.
"This must end 'em."
I said, this was a curious fact, as it shewed deliberate suicide in a reptile. Johnson would not admit the fact. He said, Maupertuis was of opinion that it does not kill itself, but dies of the heat; that it gets to the centre of the circle, as the coolest place; that its turning its tail in upon its head is merely a convulsion, and that it does not sting itself. He said he would be satisfied if the great anatomist Morgagni, after dissecting a scorpion upon whom the experiment had been tried, should certify that its sting had penetrated into its head.
He seemed pleased to talk of natural philosophy.
"That woodcocks, (said he,) fly over to the northern countries, is proved, because they have been observed at sea. Swallows certainly sleep all the winter. A number of them conglobulate together, by flying round and round, and then all in a heap throw themselves under water, and lye in the bed of a river."
He told us, one of his first essays was a Latin poem upon the glow-worm. I am sorry I did not ask where it was to be found.
Talking of the Russians and the Chinese, he advised me to read Bell's travels. I asked him whether I should read Du Halde's account of China.
"Why yes, (said he,) as one reads such a book; that is to say, consult it."
He talked of the heinousness of the crime of adultery, by which the peace of families was destroyed. He said,
"Confusion of progeny constitutes the essence of the crime; and therefore a woman who breaks her marriage vows is much more criminal than a man who does it. A man, to be sure, is criminal in the sight of GOD: but he does not do his wife a very material injury, if he does not insult her; if, for instance, from mere wantonness of appetite, he steals privately to her chambermaid. Sir, a wife ought not greatly to resent this. I would not receive home a daughter who had run away from her husband on that account. A wife should study to reclaim her husband by more attention to please him. Sir, a man will not, once in a hundred instances, leave his wife and go to a harlot, if his wife has not been negligent of pleasing."
I asked him if it was not hard that one deviation from chastity should so absolutely ruin a young woman. JOHNSON.
"Why no, Sir; it is the great principle which she is taught. When she has given up that principle, she has given up every notion of female honour and virtue, which are all included in chastity."
A gentleman talked to him of a lady whom he greatly admired and wished to marry, but was afraid of her superiority of talents.
"Sir, (said he,) you need not be afraid; marry her. Before a year goes about, you'll find that reason much weaker, and that wit not so bright."
Yet the gentleman may be justified in his apprehension by one of Dr. Johnson's admirable sentences in his life of Waller:
"He doubtless praised many whom he would have been afraid to marry; and, perhaps, married one whom he would have been ashamed to praise. Many qualities contribute to domestick happiness, upon which poetry has no colours to bestow; and many airs and sallies may delight imagination, which he who flatters them never can approve."
He praised Signor Baretti.
"His account of Italy is a very entertaining book; and, Sir, I know no man who carries his head higher in conversation than Baretti. There are strong powers in his mind. He has not, indeed, many hooks; but with what hooks he has he grapples very forcibly."
At this time I observed upon the dial-plate of his watch a short Greek inscription, taken from the New Testament,
, being the first words of our Saviour's solemn admonition to the improvement of that time which is allowed us to prepare for eternity;
"the night cometh when no man can work."
He some time afterwards laid aside this dial-plate; and when I asked him the reason, he said,
"It might do very well upon a clock which a man keeps in his closet; but to have it upon his watch which he carries about with him, and which is often looked at by others, might be censured as ostentatious."
Mr. Steevens is now possessed of the dial-plate inscribed as above.
He remained at Oxford a considerable time; I was obliged to go to London, where I received his letter, which had been returned from Scotland.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
MY DEAR BOSWELL,
I HAVE omitted a long time to write to you, without knowing very well why. I could now tell why I should not write, for who would write to men who publish the letters of their friends without their leave? Yet I write to you in spite of my caution, to tell you that I shall be glad to see you, and that I wish you would empty your head of Corsica, which I think has filled it rather too long. But, at all events, I shall be glad, very glad to see you.
I am, Sir, Yours affectionately, SAM. JOHNSON.
Oxford,
March 23, 1768.
I answered thus:
To Mr.
SAMUEL JOHNSON.
MY DEAR SIR,
London,
26th April, 1768.
I HAVE received your last letter, which, though very short, and by no means complimentary, yet gave me real pleasure, because it contains these words,
'I shall be glad, very glad to see you.'
—Surely, you have no reason to complain of my publishing a single paragragh of one of your letters; the temptation to it was so strong. An irrevocable grant of your friendship, and your dignifying my desire of visiting Corsica with the epithet of
'a wise and noble curiosity,'
are to me more valuable than many of the grants of kings.
But how can you bid me
'empty my head of Corsica?'
My nobleminded friend, do you not feel for an oppressed nation bravely struggling to be free? Consider fairly what is the case. The Corsicans never received any kindness from the Genoese. They never agreed to be subject to them. They owe them nothing; and when reduced to an abject state of slavery, by force, shall they not rise in the great cause of liberty, and break the galling yoke? And shall not every liberal soul be warm for them? Empty my head of Corsica! Empty it of honour, empty it of humanity, empty it of friendship, empty it of piety. No! while I live, Corsica and the cause of the brave islanders shall ever employ much of my attention, shall ever interest me in the sincerest manner.
* * * * * * *
I am, &c. JAMES BOSWELL.
Upon his arrival in London in May, he surprized me one morning with a visit at my lodgings in Half-Moon-street, was quite satisfied with my explanation, and was in the kindest and most agreeable frame of mind. As he had objected to a part of one of his letters being published, I thought it right to take this opportunity of asking him explicitly whether it would be improper to publish his letters after his death. His answer was,
"Nay, Sir, when I am dead, you may do as you will."
He talked in his usual style with a rough contempt of popular liberty.
"They make a rout about
universal
liberty, without considering that all that is to be valued, or indeed can be enjoyed by individuals, is
private
liberty. Political liberty is good only so far as it produces private liberty. Now, Sir, there is the liberty of the press, which you know is a constant topick. Suppose you and I and two hundred more were restrained from printing our thoughts: what then? What proportion would that restraint upon us bear to the private happiness of the nation?"
This mode of representing the inconveniencies of restraint as light and insignificant, was a kind of sophistry in which he delighted to indulge himself, in opposition to the extreme laxity for which it has been fashionable for too many to argue, when it is evident, upon reflection, that the very essence of government is restraint; and certain it is, that as government produces rational happiness, too much restraint is better than too little. But when restraint is unnecessary, and so close as to gall those who are subject to it, the people may and ought to remonstrate; and, if relief is not granted, to resist. Of this manly and spirited principle, no man was more convinced than Johnson himself.
About this time Dr. Kenrick attacked him, through my sides, in a pamphlet, entitled
"An Epistle to James Boswell, Esq. occasioned by his having transmitted the moral Writings of Dr. Samuel Johnson to Pascal Paoli, General of the Corsicans."
I was at first inclined to answer this pamphlet; but Johnson, who knew that my doing so would only gratify Kenrick, by keeping alive what would soon die away of itself, would not suffer me to take any notice of it.
His sincere regard for Francis Barber, his faithful negro servant, made him so desirous of his further improvement, that he now placed him at a school at Bishop Stortford, in Hertfordshire. This humane attention does Johnson's heart much honour. Out of many letters which Mr. Barber received from his master, he has preserved three, which he kindly gave me, and which I shall insert according to their dates.
To Mr.
FRANCIS BARBER.
DEAR FRANCIS,
I HAVE been very much out of order. I am glad to hear that you are well, and design to come soon to see you. I would have you stay at Mrs. Clapp's for the present, till I can determine what we shall do. Be a good boy.
My compliments to Mrs. Clapp and to Mr. Fowler.
I am Yours affectionately, SAM. JOHNSON.
May 28, 1768.
Soon afterwards, he supped at the Crown and Anchor tavern, in the Strand, with a company whom I collected to meet him. They were Dr. Percy, now Bishop of Dromore, Dr. Douglas, now Bishop of Carlisle, Mr. Langton, Dr. Robertson the Historian, Dr. Hugh Blair, and Mr. Thomas Davies, who wished much to be introduced to these eminent Scotch literati; but on the present occasion he had very little opportunity of hearing them talk, for with an excess of prudence, for which Johnson afterwards found fault with them, they hardly opened their lips, and that only to say something which they were certain would not expose them to the sword of Goliah; such was their anxiety for their fame when in the presence of Johnson. He was this evening in remarkable vigour of mind, and eager to exert himself in conversation, which he did with great readiness and fluency; but I am sorry to find that I have preserved but a small part of what passed.
He allowed high praise to Thomson as a poet; but when one of the company said he was also a very good man, our moralist contested this with great warmth, accusing him of gross sensuality and licentiousness of manners. I was very much afraid that in writing Thomson's life, Dr. Johnson would have treated his private character with a stern severity, but I was agreeably disappointed; and I may claim a little merit in it, from my having been at pains to send him authentick accounts of the affectionate and generous conduct of that poet to his sisters, one of whom, the wife of Mr. Thomson, schoolmaster at Lanark, I knew, and was presented by her with three of his letters, one of which Dr. Johnson has inserted in his life.
He was vehement against old Dr. Mounsey, of Chelsea College, as
"a fellow who swore and talked bawdy."
"I have been often in his company, (said Dr. Percy,) and never heard him swear or talk bawdy."
Mr. Davies, who sat next to Dr. Percy, having after this had some conversation aside with him, made a discovery which, in his zeal to pay court to Dr. Johnson, he eagerly proclaimed aloud from the foot of the table:
"O, Sir, I have found out a very good reason why Dr. Percy never heard Mounsey swear or talk bawdy; for he tells me, he never saw him but at the Duke of Northumberland's table."
"And so, Sir, (said Johnson loudly, to Dr. Percy,) you would shield this man from the charge of swearing and talking bawdy, because he did not do so at the Duke of Northumberland's table. Sir, you might as well tell us that you had seen him hold up his hand at the Old Bailey, and he neither swore nor talked bawdy; or that you had seen him in the cart at Tyburn, and he neither swore nor talked bawdy. And is it thus, Sir, that you presume to controvert what I have related?"
Dr. Johnson's animadversion was uttered in such a manner, that Dr. Percy seemed to be displeased, and soon afterwards left the company, of which Johnson did not at that time take any notice.
Swift having been mentioned, Johnson, as usual, treated him with little respect as an authour. Some of us endeavoured to support the Dean of St. Patrick's, by various arguments. One in particular praised his
"Conduct of the Allies."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, his 'Conduct of the Allies' is a performance of very little ability."
"Surely, Sir, (said Dr. Douglas,) you must allow it has strong facts."
JOHNSON.
"Why yes, Sir; but what is that to the merit of the composition? In the Sessions-paper of the Old Bailey there are strong facts. Housebreaking is a strong fact; robbery is a strong fact; and murder is a
mighty
strong fact: but is great praise due to the historian of those strong facts? No, Sir. Swift has told what he had to tell distinctly enough, but that is all. He had to count ten, and he has counted it right."
—Then recollecting that Mr. Davies, by acting as an
informer,
had been the occasion of his talking somewhat too harshly to his friend Dr. Percy, for which, probably, when the first ebullition was over, he felt some compunction, he took an opportunity to give him a hit; so added, with a preparatory laugh,
"Why, Sir, Tom Davies might have written 'the Conduct of the Allies."
Poor Tom being thus suddenly dragged into ludicrous notice in presence of the Scottish Doctors, to whom he was ambitious of appearing to advantage, was grievously mortified. Nor did his punishment rest here; for upon subsequent occasions, whenever he,
"statesman all o'er,"
assumed a strutting importance, I used to hail him—
"the Authour of the Conduct of the Allies."
When I called upon Dr. Johnson next morning, I found him highly satisfied with his colloquial prowess the preceding evening.
"Well, (said he,) we had good talk."
BOSWELL.
"Yes, Sir; you tossed and gored several persons."
The late Alexander Earl of Eglintoune, who loved wit more than wine, and men of genius more than sycophants, had a great admiration of Johnson; but from the remarkable elegance of his own manners, was, perhaps, too delicately sensible of the roughness which sometimes appeared in Johnson's behaviour. One evening about this time, when his Lordship did me the honour to sup at my lodgings with Dr. Robertson and several other men of literary distinction, he regretted that Johnson had not been educated with more refinement, and lived more in polished society.
"No, no, my Lord, (said Signor Baretti,) do with him what you would, he would always have been a bear."
"True, (answered the Earl, with a smile,) but he would have been a
dancing
bear."
To obviate all the reflections which have gone round the world to Johnson's prejudice, by applying to him the epithet of a
bear,
let me impress upon my readers a just and happy saying of my friend Goldsmith, who knew him well:
"Johnson, to be sure, has a roughness in his manner; but no man alive has a more tender heart.
He has nothing of the bear but his skin."
In 1769, so far as I can discover, the publick was favoured with nothing of his composition, either for himself or any of his friends. His
"Meditations"
too strongly prove that he suffered much both in body and mind; yet was he perpetually striving against
evil,
and nobly endeavouring to advance his intellectual and devotional improvement. Every generous and grateful heart must feel for the distresses of so eminent a benefactor to mankind; and now that his unhappiness is certainly known, must respect that dignity of character which prevented him from complaining.
His Majesty having this year instituted the Royal Academy, Johnson had the honour of being appointed Professor of Ancient Literature. In the course of the year he wrote some letters to Mrs. Thrale, passed some part of the summer at Oxford and at Lichfield, and when at Oxford wrote the following letter:
To the Reverend Mr.
THOMAS WARTON.
DEAR SIR,
MANY years ago, when I used to read in the library of your College, I promised to recompence the College for that permission, by adding to their books a Baskerville's Virgil. I have now sent it, and desire you to reposit it on the shelves in my name
"It has this inscription in a blank-leaf:
'Hunc librum D. D. Samuel Johnson, eò quòd hic loci studiis interdum vacaret.'
Of this library, which is an old Gothick room, he was very fond. On my observing to him that some of the
modern
libraries of the University were more commodious and pleasant for study, as being more spacious and airy, he replied, 'Sir, if a man has a mind to
prance,
he must study at Christ-Church and All-Souls."
.
If you will be pleased to let me know when you have an hour of leisure, I will drink tea with you. I am engaged for the afternoon, to-morrow and on Friday: all my mornings are my own
"During this visit he seldom or never dined out. He appeared to be deeply engaged in some literary work. Miss Williams was now with him at Oxford."
.
I am, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
May 31, 1769.
I came to London in the autumn, and having informed him that I was going to be married in a few months, I wished to have as much of his conversation as I could before engaging in a state of life which would probably keep me more in Scotland, and prevent my seeing him so often as when I was a single man; but I found he was at Brighthelmstone with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. I was very sorry that I had not his company with me at the Jubilee, in honour of Shakspeare, at Stratford-upon-Avon, the great poet's native town. Johnson's connection both with Shakspeare and Garrick founded a double claim to his presence; and it would have been highly gratifying to Mr. Garrick. Upon this occasion I particularly lamented that he had not that warmth of friendship for his brilliant pupil, which we may suppose would have had a benignant effect on both. When almost every man of eminence in the literary world was happy to partake in this festival of genius, the absence of Johnson could not but be wondered at and regretted. The only trace of him there, was in the whimsical advertisement of a haberdasher, who sold
Shaksperian ribbands
of various dyes; and, by way of illustrating their appropriation to the bard, introduced a line from the celebrated Prologue at the opening of Drury-lane theatre:
"Each change of
many-colour'd
life he drew."
From Brighthelmstone Dr. Johnson wrote me the following letter, which they who may think that I ought to have suppressed, must have less ardent feelings than I have always avowed.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
WHY do you charge me with unkindness? I have omitted nothing that could do you good, or give you pleasure, unless it be that I have forborne to tell you my opinion of your account of Corsica. I believe my opinion, if you think well of my judgement, might have given you pleasure; but when it is considered how much vanity is excited by praise, I am not sure that it would have done you good. Your History is like other histories, but your Journal is in a very high degree curious and delightful. There is between the history and the journal that difference which there will always be found between notions borrowed from without, and notions generated within. Your history was copied from books; your journal rose out of your own experience and observation. You express images which operated strongly upon yourself, and you have impressed them with great force upon your readers. I know not whether I could name any narrative by which curiosity is better excited, or better gratified.
I am glad that you are going to be married; and as I wish you well in things of less importance, wish you well with proportionate ardour in this crisis of your life. What I can contribute to your happiness, I should be very unwilling to with-hold; for I have always loved and valued you, and shall love you and value you still more, as you become more regular and useful: effects which a happy marriage will hardly fail to produce.
I do not find that I am likely to come back very soon from this place. I shall, perhaps, stay a fortnight longer; and a fortnight is a long time to a lover absent from his mistress. Would a fortnight ever have an end?
I am, dear Sir, Your most affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Brighthelmstone,
Sept. 9, 1769.
After his return to town, we met frequently, and I continued the practice of making notes of his conversation, though not with so much assiduity as I wish I had done. At this time, indeed, I had a sufficient excuse for not being able to appropriate so much time to my journal; for General Paoli, after Corsica had been overpowered by the monarchy of France, was now no longer at the head of his brave countrymen, but having with difficulty escaped from his native island, had sought an asylum in Great-Britain; and it was my duty, as well as my pleasure, to attend much upon him. Such particulars of Johnson's conversation at this period as I have committed to writing, I shall here introduce, without any strict attention to methodical arrangement. Sometimes short notes of different days shall be blended together, and sometimes a day may seem important enough to be separately distinguished.
He said, he would not have Sunday kept with rigid severity and gloom, but with a gravity and simplicity of behaviour.
I told him that David Hume had made a short collection of Scotticisms.
"I wonder, (said Johnson,) that
he
should find them."
He would not admit the importance of the question concerning the legality of general warrants.
"Such a power (he observed,) must be vested in every government, to answer particular cases of necessity; and there can be no just complaint but when it is abused, for which those who administer government must be answerable. It is a matter of such indifference, a matter about which the people care so very little, that were a man to be sent over Britain to offer them an exemption from it at a halfpenny a piece, very few would purchase it."
This was a specimen of that laxity of talking, which I have heard him fairly acknowledge; for, surely, while the power of granting general warrants was supposed to be legal, and the apprehension of them hung over our heads, we did not possess that security of freedom, congenial to our happy constitution, and which, by the intrepid exertions of Mr. Wilkes, has been happily established.
He said,
"The duration of Parliament, whether for seven years or for the life of the King, appears to me so immaterial, that I would not give half a crown to turn the scale the one way or the other. The
habeas corpus
is the single advantage which our government has over that of other countries."
On the 30th of September we dined together at the Mitre. I attempted to argue for the superiour happiness of the savage life, upon the usual fanciful topicks. JOHNSON.
"Sir, there can be nothing more false. The savages have no bodily advantages beyond those of civilised men. They have not better health; and as to care or mental uneasiness, they are not above it, but below it, like bears. No, Sir; you are not to talk such paradox: let me have no more of't. It cannot entertain, far less can it instruct. Lord Monboddo, one of your Scotch Judges, talked a great deal of such nonsense. I suffered him; but I will not suffer
you."
—BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, does not Rousseau talk such nonsense?"
JOHNSON.
"True, Sir; but Rousseau
knows
he is talking nonsense, and laughs at the world for staring at him."
BOSWELL.
"How so, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, a man who talks nonsense so well, must know that he is talking nonsense. But I am
afraid,
(chuckling and laughing,) Monboddo does
not
know that he is talking nonsense
His Lordship having frequently spoken in an abusive manner of Dr. Johnson, in my company, I on one occasion during the life-time of my illustrious friend could not refrain from retaliation, and repeated to him this saying.
."
BOSWELL.
"Is it wrong then, Sir, to affect singularity, in order to make people stare?"
JOHNSON.
"Yes, if you do it by propagating errour: and, indeed, it is wrong in any way. There is in human nature a general inclination to make people stare; and every wise man has himself to cure of it, and does cure himself. If you wish to make people stare by doing better than others, why, make them stare till they stare their eyes out. But consider how easy it is to make people stare, by being absurd. I may do it by going into a drawing-room without my shoes. You remember the gentleman in
"The Spectator,"
who had a commission of lunacy taken out against him for his extreme singularity, such as never wearing a wig, but a night-cap. Now, Sir, abstractedly, the night-cap was best; but, relatively, the advantage was overbalanced by his making the boys run after him."
Talking of a London life, he said,
"The happiness of London is not to be conceived but by those who have been in it. I will venture to say, there is more learning and science within the circumference of ten miles from where we now sit, than in all the rest of the kingdom."
BOSWELL.
"The only disadvantage is the great distance at which people live from one another."
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir; but that is occasioned by the largeness of it, which is the cause of all the other advantages."
BOSWELL.
"Sometimes I have been in the humour of wishing to retire to a desart."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, you have desart enough in Scotland."
Although I had promised myself a great deal of instructive conversation with him on the conduct of the married state, of which I had then a near prospect, he did not say much upon that topick. Mr. Seward heard him once say, that
"a man has a very bad chance for happiness in that state, unless he marries a woman of very strong and fixed principles of religion."
He maintained to me, contrary to the common notion, that a woman would not be the worse wife for being learned; in which, from all that I have observed of
Artemisias,
I humbly differed from him. That a woman should be sensible and well informed, I allow to be a great advantage; and think that Sir Thomas Overbury
"A Wife,"
a poem, 1614.
, in his rude versification, has very judiciously pointed out that degree of intelligence which is to be desired in a female companion:
"Give me, next
good,
an
understanding wife,
"By Nature
wise,
not
learned
by much art;
"Some
knowledge
on her side will all my life
"More scope of conversation impart;
"Besides, her inborne virtue fortifie;
"They are most firmly good, who best know why."
When I censured a gentleman of my acquaintance for marrying a second time, as it shewed a disregard of his first wife, he said,
"Not at all, Sir. On the contrary, were he not to marry again, it might be concluded that his first wife had given him a disgust to marriage; but by taking a second wife he pays the highest compliment to the first, by shewing that she made him so happy as a married man, that he wishes to be so a second time.▪
So ingenious a turn did he give to this delicate question. And yet, on another occasion, he owned that he once had almost asked a promise of Mrs. Johnson that she would not marry again, but had checked himself. Indeed I cannot help thinking, that in his case the request would have been unreasonable; for if Mrs. Johnson forgot, or thought it no injury to the memory of her first love,—the husband of her youth and the father of her children,—to make a second marriage, why should she be precluded from a third, should she be so inclined? In Johnson's persevering fond appropriation of his
Tetty,
even after her decease, he seems totally to have overlooked the prior claim of the honest Birmingham trader. I presume that her having been married before had, at times, given him some uneasiness; for I remember his observing upon the marriage of one of our common friends,
"He has done a very foolish thing, Sir; he has married a widow, when he might have had a maid."
We drank tea with Mrs. Williams. I had last year the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Thrale at Dr. Johnson's one morning, and had conversation enough with her to admire her talents, and to shew her that I was as Johnsonian as herself. Dr. Johnson had probably been kind enough to speak well of me, for this evening he delivered me a very polite card from Mr. Thrale and her, inviting me to Streatham.
On the 6th of October I complied with this obliging invitation, and found, at an elegant villa, six miles from town, every circumstance that can make society pleasing. Johnson, though quite at home, was yet looked up to with an awe, tempered by affection, and seemed to be equally the care of his host and hostess. I rejoiced at seeing him so happy.
He played off his wit against Scotland with a good humoured pleasantry, which gave me, though no bigot to national prejudices, an opportunity for a little contest with him. I having said that England was obliged to us for gardeners, almost all their good gardeners being Scotchmen,—JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, that is because gardening is much more necessary amongst you than with us, which makes so many of your people learn it. It is
all
gardening with you. Things which grow wild here, must be cultivated with great care in Scotland. Pray now, (throwing himself back in his chair, and laughing,) are you ever able to bring the
sloe
to perfection?"
I boasted that we had the honour of being the first to abolish the unhospitable, troublesome, and ungracious custom of giving vails to servants. JOHNSON.
"Sir, you abolished vails, because you were too poor to be able to give them."
Mrs. Thrale disputed with him on the merit of Prior. He attacked him powerfully; said, he wrote of love like a man who had never felt it: his love verses were college verses: and he repeated the song,
"Alexis shunn'd his fellow swains,"
&c. in so ludicrous a manner, as to make us all wonder how any one could have been pleased with such fantastical stuff. Mrs. Thrale stood to her gun with great courage, in defence of amorous ditties which Johnson despised, till he at last silenced her by saying,
"My dear Lady, talk no more of this. Nonsense can be defended but by nonsense."
Mrs. Thrale then praised Garrick's talent for light gay poetry; and, as a specimen, repeated his song in
"Florizel and Perdita,"
and dwelt with peculiar pleasure on this line:
"I'd smile with the simple, and feed with the poor."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, my dear Lady, this will never do. Poor David! Smile with the simple! What folly is that! And who would feed with the poor that can help it? No, no; let me smile with the wise, and feed with the rich."
I repeated this sally to Garrick, and wondered to find his sensibility as a writer not a little irritated by it. To sooth him, I observed, that Johnson spared none of us; and I quoted the passage in Horace, in which he compares one who attacks his friends for the sake of a laugh, to a pushing ox that is marked by a bunch of hay put upon his horns:
"foenum habet in cornu."
"Aye, (said Garrick, vehemently,) he has a whole
mow
of it."
Talking of history, Johnson said,
"We may know historical facts to be true, as we may know facts in common life to be true. Motives are generally unknown. We cannot trust to the characters we find in history, unless when they are drawn by those who knew the persons; as those, for instance, by Sallust and by Lord Clarendon."
He would not allow much merit to Whitefield's oratory.
"His popularity, Sir, (said he,) is chiefly owing to the peculiarity of his manner. He would be followed by crowds were he to wear a night-cap in the pulpit, or were he to preach from a tree."
I know not from what spirit of contradiction he burst out into a violent declamation against the Corsicans, of whose heroism I talked in high terms.
"Sir, (said he,) what is all this rout about the Corsicans? They have been at war with the Genoese for upwards of twenty years, and have never yet taken their fortified towns. They might have battered down their walls and reduced them to powder in twenty years. They might have pulled the walls in pieces, and cracked the stones with their teeth in twenty years."
It was in vain to argue with him upon the want of artillery: he was not to be resisted for the moment.
On the evening of October 10, I presented Dr. Johnson to General Paoli. I had greatly wished that two men, for whom I had the highest esteem, should meet. They met with a manly ease, mutually conscious of their own abilities, and of the abilities of each other. The General spoke Italian, and Dr. Johnson English, and understood one another very well, with a little aid of interpretation from me, in which I compared myself to an isthmus which joins two great continents. Upon Johnson's approach, the General said,
"From what I have read of your works, Sir, and from what Mr. Boswell has told me of you, I have long held you in great veneration."
The General talked of languages being formed on the particular notions and manners of a people, without knowing which, we cannot know the language. We may know the direct signification of single words; but by these no beauty of expression, no sally of genius, no wit is conveyed to the mind. All this must be by allusion to other ideas.
"Sir, (said Johnson,) you talk of language as if you had never done any thing else but study it, instead of governing a nation."
The General said,
"Questo e un troppo gran complimento,"
this is too great a compliment. Johnson answered,
"I should have thought so, Sir, if I had not heard you talk."
The General asked him, what he thought of the spirit of infidelity which was so prevalent. JOHNSON.
"Sir, this gloom of infidelity, I hope, is only a transient cloud passing through the hemisphere, which will soon be dissipated, and the sun break forth with his usual splendour."
"You think then, (said the General,) that they will change their principles like their clothes."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, if they bestow no more thought on principles than on dress, it must be so."
The General said, that
"a great part of the fashionable infidelity was owing to a desire of shewing courage. Men who have no opportunities of shewing it as to things in this life, take death and futurity as objects on which to display it."
JOHNSON.
"That is mighty foolish affectation. Fear is one of the passions of human nature, of which it is impossible to divest it. You remember that the Emperour Charles V. when he read upon the tomb-stone of a Spanish nobleman, 'Here lies one who never knew fear,' wittily said, 'Then he never snuffed a candle with his fingers."
He talked a few words of French to the General; but finding he did not do it with facility, he asked for pen, ink, and paper, and wrote the following note:
"J'ai lu dans la geographie de Lucas de Linda un Pater-noster êcrit dans une langue toutàfait differente de l'Italienne, et de toutes autres lesquelles se derivent du Latin. L'auteur l'appelle
linguam Corsicae rusticam;
elle a peutetre passé, peu a peu; mais elle a certainement prevalue autrefois dans les montagnes et dans la campagne. Le même auteur dit la même chose en parlant de Sardaigne; qu'il y a deux langues dans l'Isle, une des villes, l'autre de la campagne."
The General immediately informed him that the
lingua rustica
was only in Sardinia.
Dr. Johnson went home with me, and drank tea till late in the night. He said, General Paoli had the loftiest port of any man he had ever seen. He denied that military men were always the best bred men. Perfect good breeding, he observed, consists in having no particular mark of any profession, but a general elegance of manners: whereas, in a military man, you can commonly distinguish the
brand
of a soldier,
l'homme d'epee.
Dr. Johnson shunned to-night any discussion of the perplexed question of fate and free will, which I attempted to agitate:
"Sir, (said he,) we
know
our will is free, and
there's
an end of't."
He honoured me with his company at dinner on the 16th of October, at my lodgings in Old Bond-street, with Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Garrick, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Bickerstaff, and Mr. Thomas Davies. Garrick played round him with a fond vivacity, taking hold of the breasts of his coat, and, looking up in his face with a lively archness, complimented him on the good health which he seemed then to enjoy; while the sage, shaking his head, beheld him with a gentle complacency. One of the company not being come at the appointed hour, I proposed, as usual upon such occasions, to order dinner to be served; adding,
"Ought six people to be kept waiting for one?"
"Why yes, (answered Johnson, with a delicate humanity,) if the one will suffer more by your sitting down, than the six will do by waiting."
Goldsmith, to divert the tedious minutes, strutted about, bragging of his dress, and I believe was seriously vain of it, for his mind was wonderfully prone to such impressions.
"Come, come, (said Garrick,) talk no more of that. You are, perhaps, the worst—eheh!"
—Goldsmith was eagerly attempting to interrupt him, when Garrick went on, laughing ironically,
"Nay, you will always
look
like a
gentleman;
but I am talking of being well or ill
drest."
"Well, let me tell you, (said Goldsmith,) when my tailor brought home my bloom-coloured coat, he said 'Sir, I have a favour to beg of you. When any body asks you who made your clothes, be pleased to mention John Phielby, at the Harrow, in Water-lane."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, that was because he knew the strange colour would attract crouds to gaze at it, and thus they might hear of him, and see how well he could make a coat even of so absurd a colour."
After dinner, our conversation first turned upon Pope. Johnson said, his characters of men were admirably drawn, those of women not so well. He repeated to us, in his forcible melodious manner, the concluding lines of the Dunciad. While he was talking loudly in praise of those lines, one of the company ventured to say,
"Too fine for such a poem:—a poem on what?"
JOHNSON, (with a disdainful look,)
"Why, on
dunces.
It was worth while being a dunce then. Ah, Sir, hadst
thou
lived in those days! It is not worth while being a dunce now, when there are no wits."
Bickerstaff observed, as a peculiar circumstance, that Pope's fame was higher when he was alive than it was then. Johnson said, his Pastorals were poor things, though the versification was fine. He told us, with high satisfaction, the anecdote of Pope's inquiring who was the author of his
"London,"
and saying he will be soon
deterré.
He observed, that in Dryden's poetry there were passages drawn from a profundity which Pope could never reach. He repeated some fine lines on love, by the former, (which I have now forgotten,) and gave great applause to the character of Zimri. Goldsmith said, that Pope's character of Addison shewed a deep knowledge of the human heart. Johnson said, that the description of the temple, in
"The Mourning Bride,"
was the finest poetical passage he had ever read; he recollected none in Shakspeare equal to it.—
"But, (said Garrick, all alarmed for 'the god of his idolatry,') we know not the extent and variety of his powers. We are to suppose there are such passages in his works. Shakspeare must not suffer from the badness of our memories."
Johnson, diverted by this enthusiastick jealousy, went on with greater ardour:
"No, Sir; Congreve has
nature,"
(smiling on the tragick eagerness of Garrick;) but composing himself, he added,
"Sir, this is not comparing Congreve on the whole, with Shakspeare on the whole; but only maintaining that Congreve has one finer passage than any that can be found in Shakspeare. Sir, a man may have no more than ten guineas in the world, but he may have those ten guineas in one piece; and so may have a finer piece than a man who has ten thousand pounds: but then he has only one ten-guinea piece.—What I mean is, that you can shew me no passage where there is simply a description of material objects, without any intermixture of moral notions, which produces such an effect."
Mr. Murphy mentioned Shakspeare's description of the night before the battle of Agincourt; but it was observed, it had
men
in it. Mr. Davies suggested the speech of Juliet, in which she figures herself awaking in the tomb of her ancestors. Some one mentioned the description of Dover Cliff. JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; it should be all precipice,—all vacuum. The crows impede your fall. The diminished appearance of the boats, and other circumstances, are all very good description; but do not impress the mind at once with the horrible idea of immense height. The impression is divided; you pass on by computation, from one stage of the tremendous space to another. Had the girl in
"The Mourning Bride"
said, she could not cast her shoe to the top of one of the pillars in the temple, it would not have aided the idea, but weakened it."
Talking of a Barrister who had a bad utterance, some one, (to rouse Johnson,) wickedly said, that he was unfortunate in not having been taught oratory by Sheridan. JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, if he had been taught by Sheridan, he would have cleared the room."
GARRICK.
"Sheridan has too much vanity to be a good man."
We shall now see Johnson's mode of
defending
a man; taking him into his own hands, and discriminating. JOHNSON.
No, Sir. There is, to be sure, in Sheridan, something to reprehend, and every thing to laugh at; but, Sir, he is not a bad man. No, Sir; were mankind to be divided into good and bad, he would stand considerably within the ranks of good. And, Sir, it must be allowed that Sheridan excels in plain declamation, though he can exhibit no character."
I should, perhaps, have suppressed this disquisition concerning a person of whose merit and worth I think with respect, had he not attacked Johnson so outrageously in his Life of Swift, and, at the same time, treated us his admirers as a set of pigmies. He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.
Mrs. Montague, a lady distinguished for having written an Essay on Shakspeare, being mentioned;—REYNOLDS.
"I think that essay does her honour."
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir; it does
her
honour, but it would do nobody else honour. I have, indeed, not read it all. But when I take up the end of a web, and find it packthread, I do not expect, by looking further, to find embroidery. Sir, I will venture to say, there is not one sentence of true criticism in her book."
GARRICK.
"But, Sir, surely it shews how much Voltaire has mistaken Shakspeare, which nobody else has done."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, nobody else has thought it worth while. And what merit is there in that? You may as well praise a schoolmaster for whipping a boy who has construed ill. No, Sir, there is no real criticism in it; none shewing the beauty of thought, as formed on the workings of the human heart."
The admirers of this Essay
Of whom I acknowledge myself to be one, considering it as a piece of the secondary or comparative species of criticism, and not of that profound species which alone Dr. Johnson would allow to be
"real criticism."
It is, besides, clearly and elegantly expressed, and has done effectually what it professed to do, namely, vindicated Shakspeare from the misrepresentations of Voltaire; and considering how many young people were misled by his witty, though false observations, Mrs. Montague's Essay was of service to Shakspeare with a certain class of readers, and is, therefore, entitled to praise. Johnson, I am assured, allowed the merit which I have stated, saying, (with reference to Voltaire,)
"it is conclusive
ad hominem."
may be offended at the slighting manner in which Johnson spoke of it; but let it be remembered, that he gave his honest opinion, unbiassed by any prejudice, or any proud jealousy of a woman intruding herself into the chair of criticism; for Sir Joshua Reynolds has told me, that when the Essay first came out, and it was not known who had written it, Johnson wondered how Sir Joshua could like it. At this time Sir Joshua himself had received no information concerning the authour, except being assured by one of our most eminent literati, that it was clear its authour did not know the Greek tragedies in the original. One day at Sir Joshua's table, when it was related that Mrs. Montague, in an excess of compliment to the authour of a modern tragedy, had exclaimed,
"I tremble for Shakspeare;"
Johnson said,
"When Shakspeare has got—for his rival, and Mrs. Montague for his defender, he is in a poor state indeed."
Johnson proceeded:
"The Scotchman has taken the right method in his 'Elements of Criticism.' I do not mean that he has taught us any thing; but he has told us old things in a new way."
MURPHY.
"He seems to have read a great deal of French criticism, and wants to make it his own; as if he had been for years anatomising the heart of man, and peeping into every cranny of it."
GOLDSMITH.
"It is easier to write that book, than to read it."
JOHNSON.
"We have an example of true criticism in Burke's 'Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful;' and, if I recollect, there is also Du Bos; and Bouhours, who shews all beauty to depend on truth. There is no great merit in telling how many plays have ghosts in them, and how this ghost is better than that. You must shew how terrour is impressed on the human heart.—In the description of night in Macbeth, the beetle and the bat detract from the general idea of darkness,—inspissated gloom."
Politicks being mentioned, he said,
"This petitioning is a new mode of distressing government, and a mighty easy one. I will undertake to get petitions either against quarter guineas or half guineas, with the help of a little hot wine. There must be no yielding to encourage this. The object is not important enough. We are not to blow up half a dozen palaces, because one cottage is burning."
The conversation then took another turn. JOHNSON.
"It is amazing what ignorance of certain points one sometimes finds in men of eminence. A wit about town, who wrote Latin bawdy verses, asked me, how it happened that England and Scotland, which were once two kingdoms, were now one:—and Sir Fletcher Norton did not seem to know that there were such publications as the Reviews."
"The ballad of Hardyknute has no great merit, if it be really ancient. People talk of nature. But mere obvious nature may be exhibited with very little power of mind."
On Thursday, October 19, I passed the evening with him at his house. He advised me to complete a Dictionary of words peculiar to Scotland, of which I shewed him a specimen.
"Sir, (said he,) Ray has made a collection of north-country words. By collectiong those of your country, you will do a useful thing towards the history of the language."
He bade me also go on with collections which I was making upon the antiquities of Scotland.
"Make a large book; a folio."
BOSWELL.
"But of what use will it be, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Never mind the use; do it."
I complained that he had not mentioned Garrick in his Preface to Shakspeare; and asked him if he did not admire him. JOHNSON.
"Yes, as a poor player, who frets and struts his hour upon the stage;—as a shadow."
BOSWELL.
"But has he not brought Shakspeare into notice?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, to allow that, would be to lampoon the age. Many of Shakspeare's plays are the worse for being acted: Macbeth, for instance."
BOSWELL.
"What, Sir, is nothing gained by decoration and action? Indeed, I do wish that you had mentioned Garrick."
JOHNSON.
"My dear Sir, had I mentioned him, I must have mentioned many more: Mrs. Pritchard, Mrs. Cibber,—nay, and Mr. Cibber too; he too altered Shakspeare."
BOSWELL.
"You have read his apology, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Yes, it is very entertaining. But as for Cibber himself, taking from his conversation all that he ought not to have said, he was a poor creature. I remember when he brought me one of his Odes to have my opinion of it, I could not bear such nonsense, and would not let him read it to the end; so little respect had I for
that great man
(laughing). Yet I remember Richardson wondering that I could treat him with familiarity."
I mentioned to him that I had seen the execution of several convicts at Tyburn, two days before, and that none of them seemed to be under any concern. JOHNSON.
"Most of them, Sir, have never thought at all."
BOSWELL.
"But is not the fear of death natural to man?"
JOHNSON.
"So much so, Sir, that the whole of life is but keeping away the thoughts of it."
He then, in a low and earnest tone, talked of his meditating upon the aweful hour of his-own dissolution, and in what manner he should conduct himself upon that occasion:
"I know not (said he,) whether I should wish to have a friend by me, or have it all between GOD and myself."
Talking of our feeling for the distresses of others;—JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, there is much noise made about it, but it is greatly exaggerated. No, Sir, we have a certain degree of feeling to prompt us to do good: more than that, Providence does not intend. It would be misery to no purpose."
BOSWELL.
"But suppose now, Sir, that one of your intimate friends were apprehended for an offence for which he might be hanged."
JOHNSON.
"I should do what I could to bail him, and give him any other assistance; but if he were once fairly hanged, I should not suffer."
BOSWELL.
"Would you eat your dinner that day, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir; and eat it as if he were eating it with me. Why, there's Baretti, who is to be tried for his life to-morrow, friends have risen up for him on every side; yet if he should be hanged, none of them will eat a slice of plumb-pudding the less. Sir, that sympathetick feeling goes a very little way in depressing the mind."
I told him that I had dined lately at Foote's, who shewed me a letter to him from Tom Davies, telling him that he had not been able to sleep from the concern which he felt on account of
this sad affair of Baretti,
begging of him to try if he could suggest any thing that might be of service to him; and at the same time recommending to him an industrious young man who kept a pickle-shop. JOHNSON.
"Aye, Sir, here you have a specimen of human sympathy; a friend hanged, and a cucumber pickled. We know not whether Baretti or the pickle-man has kept Davies from sleep, nor does he know himself. And as to his not sleeping, Sir; Tom Davies is a very great man; Tom has been upon the stage, and knows how to do those things: I have not been upon the stage, and cannot do those things."
BOSWELL.
"I have often blamed myself, Sir, for not feeling for others as sensibly as many say they do."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, don't be duped by them any more. You will find these very feeling people are not very ready to do you good. They
pay
you by feeling."
BOSWELL.
"Foote has a great deal of humour?"
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir."
BOSWELL.
"He has a singular talent of exhibiting character."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, it is not a talent, it is a vice; it is what others abstain from. It is not comedy, which exhibits the character of a species, as that of a miser gathered from many misers; it is farce, which exhibits individuals."
BOSWELL.
"Did not he think of exhibiting you, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, fear restrained him; he knew I would have broken his bones. I would have saved him the trouble of cutting off a leg; I would not have left him a leg to cut off."
BOSWELL.
"Pray, Sir, is not Foote an infidel?"
JOHNSON.
"I do not know, Sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject
When Mr. Foote was at Edinburgh, he thought fit to entertain a numerous Scotch company with a great deal of coarse jocularity, at the expence of Dr. Johnson, imagining it would be acceptable. I felt this as not civil to me, but sat very patiently till he had exhausted his merriment on that subject; and then observed, that surely Johnson must be allowed to have some sterling wit, and that I had heard him say a very good thing of Mr. Foote himself.
"Ah, my old friend Sam, (cried Foote,) no man says better things: do let us have it."
Upon which I told the above story, which produced a very loud laugh from the company. But I never saw Foote so disconcerted. He looked grave and angry, and entered into a serious refutation of the justice of the remark.
"What, Sir, (said he,) talk thus of a man of liberal education;—a man who for years was at the University of Oxford;—a man who has added sixteen new characters to the English drama of his country!"
."
BOSWELL.
"I suppose, Sir, he has thought superficially, and seized the first notions which occurred to his mind."
JOHNSON.
"Why then, Sir, still he is like a dog, that snatches the piece next him. Did you never observe that dogs have not the power of comparing? A dog will take a small bit of meat as readily as a large, when both are before him."
"Buchanan (he observed,) has fewer
centos
than any modern Latin poet. He not only had great knowledge of the Latin language, but was a great poetical genius. Both the Scaligers praise him."
He again talked of the passage in Congreve with high commendation, and said,
"Shakspeare never has six lines together without a fault. Perhaps you may find seven: but this does not refute my general assertion. If I come to an orchard, and say there's no fruit here, and then comes a poring man, who finds two apples and three pears, and tells me, 'Sir, you are mistaken, I have found both apples and pears,' I should laugh at him: what would that be to the purpose?"
BOSWELL.
"What do you think of Dr. Young's 'Night Thoughts,' Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, there are very fine things in them."
BOSWELL.
"Is there not less religion in the nation now, Sir, than there was formerly?"
JOHNSON.
"I don't know, Sir, that there is."
BOSWELL.
"For instance, there used to be a chaplain in every great family, which we do not find now."
JOHNSON.
"Neither do you find many of the state servants which great families used formerly to have. There is a change of modes in the whole department of life."
Next day, October 20, he appeared, for the only time I suppose in his life, as a witness in a Court of Justice, being called to give evidence to the character of Mr. Baretti, who having stabbed a man in the street, was arraigned at the Old Bailey for murder. Never did such a constellation of genius enlighten the aweful Sessions House; Mr. Burke, Mr. Garrick, Mr. Beauclerk, and Dr. Johnson: and undoubtedly their favourable testimony had due weight with the Court and Jury. Johnson gave his evidence in a slow, deliberate, and distinct manner, which was uncommonly impressive. It is well known that Mr. Baretti was acquitted.
On the 26th of October, we dined together at the Mitre tavern. I found fault with Foote for indulging his talent of ridicule at the expence of his visitors, which I colloquially termed making fools of his company. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, when you go to see Foote, you do not go to see a saint: you go to see a man who will be entertained at your house, and then bring you on a publick stage; who will entertain you at his house, for the very purpose of bringing you on a publick stage. Sir, he does not make fools of his company; they whom he exposes are fools already: he only brings them into action."
Talking of trade, he observed,
"It is a mistaken notion that a vast deal of money is brought into a nation by trade. It is not so. Commodities come from commodities; but trade produces no capital accession of wealth. However, though there should be little profit in money, there is a considerable profit in pleasure, as it gives to one nation the productions of another; as we have wines and fruits, and many other foreign articles, brought to us."
BOSWELL.
"Yes, Sir, and there is a profit in pleasure, by its furnishing occupation to such numbers of mankind."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, you cannot call that pleasure to which all are averse, and which none begin but with the hope of leaving off; a thing which men dislike before they have tried it, and when they have tried it."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, the mind must be employed, and we grow weary when idle."
JOHNSON.
"That is, Sir, because, others being busy, we want company; but if we were all idle, there would be no growing weary; we should all entertain one another. There is, indeed, this in trade:—it gives men an opportunity of improving their situation. If there were no trade, many who are poor would always remain poor. But no man loves labour for itself."
BOSWELL.
"Yes, Sir, I know a person who does. He is a very laborious Judge, and he loves the labour."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, that is because he loves respect and distinction. Could he have them without labour, he would like it less."
"He tells me he likes it for itself."
—
"Why, Sir, he fancies so, because he is not accustomed to abstract."
We went home to his house to tea. Mrs. Williams made it with sufficient dexterity, notwithstanding her blindness, though her manner of satisfying herself that the cups were full enough, was a little aukward: she put her finger down a certain way, till she felt the tea touch it. In my first elation at being allowed the privilege of attending Dr. Johnson at his late visits to this lady, which was like being è
secretioribus consiliis,
I willingly drank cup after cup, as if it had been the Heliconian spring. But as the charm of novelty went off, I grew more fastidious; and besides, I discovered that she was of a peevish temper.
There was a pretty large circle this evening▪ Dr. Johnson was in very good humour, lively, and ready to talk upon all subjects. Mr. Fergusson, the selftaught philosopher, told him of a new-invented machine which went without horses: a man who sat in it turned a handle, which worked a spring that drove it forward.
"Then, Sir, (said Johnson,) what is gained is, the man has his choice whether he will move himself alone, or himself and the machine too."
Dominicetti being mentioned, he would not allow him any merit.
"There is nothing in all this boasted system. No, Sir; medicated baths can be no better than warm water: their only effect can be that of tepid moisture."
One of the company took the other side, maintaining that medicines of various sorts, and some too of most powerful effect, are introduced into the human frame by the medium of the pores; and, therefore, when warm water is impregnated with salutiferous substances, it may produce great effects as a bath. This appeared to me very satisfactory. Johnson did not answer it; but talking for victory, and determined to be master of the field, he had recourse to the device which Goldsmith imputed to him in the witty-words of one of Cibber's comedies:
"There is no arguing with Johnson; for when his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it."
He turned to the gentleman,
"Well, Sir, go to Dominicetti, and get thyself fumigated; but be sure that the steam be directed to thy head, for
that
is the
peccant part."
This produced a triumphant roar of laughter from the motley assembly of philosophers, printers, and dependents, male and female.
I know not how so whimsical a thought came into my mind, but I asked,
"If, Sir, you were shut up in a castle, and a new-born child with you, what would you do?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I should not much like my company."
BOSWELL.
"But would you take the trouble of rearing it?"
He seemed, as may well be supposed, unwilling to pursue the subject; but upon my persevering in my question, replied,
"Why yes, Sir, I would; but I must have all conveniencies. If I had no garden, I would make a shed on the roof, and take it there for fresh air. I should feed it, and wash it much, and with warm water to please it, not with cold water to give it pain."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, does not heat relax?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, you are not to imagine the water is to be very hot. I would not coddle the child. No, Sir, the hardy method of treating children does no good. I'll take you five children from London, who shall cuff five Highland children. Sir, a man bred in London will carry a burthen, or run, or wrestle, as well as a man brought up in the hardiest manner in the country."
BOSWELL.
"Good living, I suppose, makes the Londoners strong."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I don't know that it does. Our chairmen from Ireland, who are as strong men as any, have been brought up upon potatoes. Quantity makes up for quality."
BOSWELL.
"Would you teach this child that I have furnished you with, any thing?"
JOHNSON.
"No, I should not be apt to teach it."
BOSWELL.
"Would not you have a pleasure in teaching it?"
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir, I should
not
have a pleasure in teaching it."
BOSWELL.
"Have you not a pleasure in teaching men?—
There
I have you. You have the same pleasure in teaching men, that I should have in teaching children."
JOHNSON.
"Why, something about that."
BOSWELL.
"Do you think, Sir, that what is called natural affection is born with us? It seems to me to be the effect of habit, or of gratitude for kindness. No child has it for a parent whom it has not seen."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I think there is an instinctive natural affection in parents towards their children."
Russia being mentioned as likely to become a great empire, by the rapid increase of population;—JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I see no prospect of their propagating more. They can have no more children than they can get. I know of no way to make them breed more than they do. It is not from reason and prudence that people marry, but from inclination. A man is poor; he thinks, 'I cannot be worse, and so I'll e'en take Peggy."
BOSWELL.
"But have not nations been more populous at one period than another?"
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir; but that has been owing to the people being less thinned at one period than another, whether by emigrations, war, or pestilence, not by their being more or less prolifick. Births at all times bear the same proportion to the same number of people."
BOSWELL.
"But, to consider the state of our own country;—does not throwing a number of farms into one hand hurt population?"
JOHNSON.
"Why no, Sir; the same quantity of food being produced, will be consumed by the same number of mouths, though the people may be disposed of in different ways. We see, if corn be dear, and butchers' meat cheap, the farmers all apply themselves to the raising of corn, till it becomes plentiful and cheap, and then butchers' meat becomes dear; so that an equality is always preserved. No, Sir, let fanciful men do as they will, depend upon it, it is difficult to disturb the system of life."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, is it not a very bad thing for landlords to oppress their tenants, by raising their rents?"
JOHNSON.
"Very bad. But, Sir, it never can have any general influence; it may distress some individuals. For consider this: landlords cannot do without tenants. Now tenants will not give more for land than land is worth. If they can make more of their money by keeping a shop, or any other way, they'll do it, and so oblige landlords to let land come back to a reasonable rent, in order that they may get tenants. Land, in England, is an article of commerce. A tenant who pays his landlord his rent, thinks himself no more obliged to him than you think yourself obliged to a man in whose shop you buy a piece of goods. He knows the landlord does not let him have his land for less than he can get from others, in the same manner as the shopkeeper sells his goods. No shopkeeper sells a yard of ribband for six-pence, when seven-pence is the current price."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, is it not better that tenants should be dependent on landlords?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, as there are many more tenants than landlords, perhaps, strictly speaking, we should wish not. But if you please you may let your lands cheap, and so get the value, part in money and part in homage. I should agree with you in that."
BOSWELL.
"So, Sir, you laugh at schemes of political improvement."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, most schemes of political improvement are very laughable things."
He observed,
"Providence has wisely ordered that the more numerous men are, the more difficult it is for them to agree in any thing, and so they are governed. There is no doubt, that if the poor should reason, 'We'll be the poor no longer, we'll make the rich take their turn,' they could easily do it, were it not that they can't agree. So the common soldiers, though so much more numerous than their officers, are governed by them for the same reason."
He said,
"Mankind have a strong attachment to the habitations to which they have been accustomed. You see the inhabitants of Norway do not with one consent quit it, and go to some part of America, where there is a mild climate, and where they may have the same produce from land, with the tenth part of the labour. No, Sir; their affection for their old dwellings, and the terrour of a general change, keep them at home. Thus, we see many of the finest spots in the world thinly inhabited, and many rugged spots well inhabited."
The London Chronicle, which was the only newspaper he constantly took in, being brought, the office of reading it aloud was assigned to me. I was diverted by his impatience. He made me pass over so many parts of it, that my task was very easy. He would not suffer one of the petitions to the King about the Middlesex election to be read.
I had hired a Bohemian as my servant while I remained in London, and being much pleased with him, I asked Dr. Johnson whether his being a Roman Catholick should prevent my taking him with me to Scotland. JOHNSON.
"Why no, Sir. If
he
has no objection, you can have none."
BOSWELL.
"So, Sir, you are no great enemy to the Roman Catholick religion."
JOHNSON.
"No more, Sir, than to the Presbyterian religion."
BOSWELL.
"You are joking."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir, I really think so. Nay, Sir, of the two, I prefer the Popish."
BOSWELL.
"How so, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, the Presbyterians have no church, no apostolical ordination."
BOSWELL.
"And do you think that absolutely essential, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, as it was an apostolical institution, I think it is dangerous to be without it. And, Sir, the Presbyterians have no publick worship: they have no form of prayer in which they know they are to join. They go to hear a man pray, and are to judge whether they will join with him."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, their doctrine is the same with that of the Church of England. Their confession of faith, and the thirty-nine articles, contain the same points, even the doctrine of predestination."
JOHNSON.
"Why yes, Sir; predestination was a part of the clamour of the times, so it is mentioned in our articles, but with as little positiveness as could be."
BOSWELL.
"Is it necessary, Sir, to believe all the thirty-nine articles?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, that is a question which has been much agitated. Some have thought it necessary that they should all be believed; others have considered them to be only articles of peace, that is to say, you are not to preach against them."
BOSWELL.
"It appears to me, Sir, that predestination, or what is equivalent to it, cannot be avoided, if we hold an universal presence in the Deity."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, does not GOD every day see things going on without preventing them?"
BOSWELL.
"True, Sir; but if a thing be
certainly
foreseen, it must be fixed, and cannot happen otherwise; and if we apply this consideration to the human mind, there is no free will, nor do I see how prayer can be of any avail."
He mentioned Dr. Clarke, and Bishop Bramhall on Liberty and Necessity, and bid me read South's sermons on Prayer; but avoided the question which has excruciated philosophers and divines beyond any other. I did not press it further, when I perceived that he was displeased, and shrunk from any abridgement of an attribute usually ascribed to the Divinity, however irreconcileable in its full extent with the grand system of moral government. His supposed orthodoxy here cramped the vigorous powers of his understanding. He was confined by a chain which early imagination and long habit made him think massy and strong, but which, had he ventured to try, he could at once have snapt asunder.
I proceeded:
"What do you think, Sir, of Purgatory, as believed by the Roman Catholicks?"
JOHNSON.
Why, Sir, it is a very harmless doctrine. They are of opinion that the generality of mankind are neither so obstinately wicked as to deserve everlasting punishment, nor so good as to merit being admitted into the society of blessed spirits; and therefore that GOD is graciously pleased to allow of a middle state, where they may be purified by certain degrees of suffering. You see, Sir, there is nothing unreasonable in this."
BOSWELL.
"But then, Sir, their masses for the dead?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, if it be once established that there are souls in purgatory, it is as proper to pray for
them,
as for our brethren of mankind who are yet in this life."
BOSWELL.
"The idolatry of the Mass?"
—JOHNSON.
"Sir, there is no idolatry in the Mass. They believe GOD to be there, and they adore him."
BOSWELL.
"The worship of Saints?"
—JOHNSON.
"Sir, they do not worship saints; they invoke them; they only ask their prayers. I am talking all this time of the
doctrines
of the church of Rome. I grant you that in
practice,
Purgatory is made a lucrative imposition, and that the people do become idolatrous as they recommend themselves to the tutelary protection of particular saints. I think their giving the sacrament only in one kind is criminal, because it is contrary to the express institution of CHRIST, and I wonder how the Council of Trent admitted it."
BOSWELL.
"Confession?"
—JOHNSON.
"Why, I don't know but that is a good thing. The scripture says, 'Confess your faults one to another;' and the priests confess as well as the laity. Then it must be considered that their absolution is only upon repentance, and often upon penance also. You think your sins may be forgiven without penance, upon repentance alone."
I thus ventured to mention all the common objections against the Roman Catholick Church, that I might hear so great a man upon them. What he said is here accurately recorded. But it is not improbable that if one had taken the other side, he might have reasoned differently.
I must however mention, that he had a respect for
"the old religion,"
as the mild Melancthon called that of the Roman Catholick Church, even while he was exerting himself for its reformation in some particulars. Sir William Scott informs me, that he heard Johnson say,
"A man who is converted from Protestantism to Popery, may be sincere: he parts with nothing: he is only superadding to what he already had. But a convert from Popery to Protestantism, gives up so much of what he has held as sacred as any thing that he retains; there is so much
laceration of mind
in such a conversion, that it can hardly be sincere and lasting."
The truth of this reflection may be confirmed by many and eminent instances, some of which will occur to most of my readers.
When we were alone, I introduced the subject of death, and endeavoured to maintain that the fear of it might be got over. I told him that David Hume said, he was no more uneasy to think he should
not be
after this life, than that he
had not been
before he began to exist. JOHNSON.
"Sir, if he really thinks so, his perceptions are disturbed; he is mad: if he does not think so, he lies. He may tell you, he holds his finger in the flame of a candle, without feeling pain; would you believe him? When he dies, he at least gives up all he has."
BOSWELL.
"Foote, Sir, told me, that when he was very ill he was not afraid to die."
JOHNSON.
"It is not true, Sir. Hold a pistol to Foote's breast, or to Hume's breast, and threaten to kill them, and you'll see how they behave."
BOSWELL.
"But may we not fortify our minds for the approach of death?"
—Here I am sensible I was in the wrong, to bring before his view what he ever looked upon with horrour; for although when in a celestial frame, in his
"Vanity of human Wishes,"
he has supposed death to be
"kind Nature's signal for retreat,"
from this state of being to
"a happier seat,"
his thoughts upon this aweful change were in general full of dismal apprehensions. His mind resembled the vast amphitheatre, the Colisaeum at Rome. In the centre stood his judgement, which, like a mighty gladiator, combated those apprehensions that, like the wild beasts of the
Arena,
were all around in cells, ready to be let out upon him. After a conflict, he drives them back into their dens; but not killing them, they were still assailing him. To my question, whether we might not fortify our minds for the approach of death, he answered, in a passion,
"No, Sir, let it alone. It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time."
He added, (with an earnest look,)
"A man knows it must be so, and submits. It will do him no good to whine."
I attempted to continue the conversation. He was so provoked, that he said,
"Give us no more of this;"
and was thrown into such a state of agitation, that he expressed himself in a way that alarmed and distressed me; shewed an impatience that I should leave him, and when I was going away, called to me sternly,
"Don't let us meet to-morrow."
I went home exceedingly uneasy. All the harsh observations which I had ever heard made upon his character, crowded into my mind; and I seemed to myself like the man who had put his head into the lion's mouth a great many times with perfect safety, but at last had it bit off.
Next morning I sent him a note, stating, that I might have been in the wrong, but it was not intentionally; he was therefore, I could not help thinking, too severe upon me. That notwithstanding our agreement not to meet that day, I would call on him in my way to the city, and stay five minutes by my watch.
"You are, (said I,) in my mind, since last night, surrounded with cloud and storm. Let me have a glimpse of sunshine, and go about my affairs in serenity and cheerfulness."
Upon entering his study, I was glad that he was not alone, which would have made our meeting more aukward. There were with him, Mr. Steevens and Mr. Tyers, both of whom I now saw for the first time. My note had, on his own reflection, softened him, for he received me very complacently; so that I unexpectedly found myself at ease, and joined in the conversation.
He said, the criticks had done too much honour to Sir Richard Blackmore, by writing so much against him. That in his
"Creation"
he had been helped by various wits, a line by Philips and a line by Tickell; so that by theiraid, and that of others, the poem had been made out. I defended Blackmore's lines, which have been ridiculed as absolute nonsense:
"A painted vest Prince Voltiger had on,
"Which from a naked Pict his grandsire won."
I maintained it to be a poetical conceit. A Pict being painted, if he is slain in battle, and a vest is made of his skin, it is a painted vest won from him, though he was naked.
Johnson spoke unfavourably of a certain pretty voluminous authour, saying,
"He used to write anonymous books, and then other books commending those books, in which there was something of rascality."
I whispered him,
"Well, Sir, you are now in good humour."
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir."
I was going to leave him, and had got as far as the stair-case. He stopped me, and smiling, said,
"Get you gone,"
in a curious mode of inviting me to stay, which I accordingly did for some time longer.
This little incidental quarrel and reconciliation, which, perhaps, I may be thought to have detailed too minutely, must be esteemed as one of many proofs which his friends had, that though he might be charged with bad humour at times, he was always a good-natured man; and I have heard Sir Joshua Reynolds, a nice and delicate observer of manners, particularly remark, that when upon any occasion Johnson had been rough to any person in company, he took the first opportunity of reconciliation, by drinking to him or addressing his discourse to him; but if he found his dignified indirect overtures sullenly neglected, he was quite indifferent, and considered himself as having done all that he ought to do, and the other as now in the wrong.
Being to set out for Scotland on the 10th of November, I wrote to him at Streatham, begging that he would meet me in town on the 9th; but if this should be very inconvenient to him, I would go thither. His answer was as follows:
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
UPON balancing the inconveniencies of both parties, I find it will less incommode you to spend your night here, than me to come to town. I wish to see you, and am ordered by the lady of this house to invite you hither. Whether you can come or not, I shall not have any occasion of writing to you again before your marriage, and therefore tell you now, that with great sincerity I wish you happiness.
I am, dear Sir, Your most affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Nov. 9, 1769.
I was detained in town till it was too late on the 9th, so went to him early in the morning of the tenth of October.
"Now (said he,) that you are going to marry, do not expect more from life, than life will afford. You may often find yourself out of humour, and you may often think your wife not studious enough to please you; and yet you may have reason to consider yourself as upon the whole very happily married."
Talking of marriage in general, he observed,
"Our marriage service is too refined. It is calculated only for the best kind of marriages; whereas, we should have a form for matches of convenience, of which there are many."
He agreed with me that there was no absolute necessity for having the marriage ceremony performed by a regular clergyman, for this was not commanded in scripture.
I was volatile enough to repeat to him a little epigrammatick song of mine, on matrimony, which Mr. Garrick had a few days before procured to be set to musick.
A MATRIMONIAL THOUGHT.
IN the blithe days of honey-moon,
With Kate's allurements smitten,
I lov'd her late, I lov'd her soon,
And call'd her dearest kitten.
But now my kitten's grown a cat,
And cross like other wives,
O! by my soul, my honest Mat,
I fear she has nine lives.
My illustrious friend said,
"It is very well, Sir; but you should not swear."
Upon which I altered
"O! by my soul,"
to
"alas, alas!"
He was so good as to accompany me to London, and see me into the postchaise which was to carry me on my road to Scotland. And sure I am, that however inconsiderable many of the particulars recorded at this time may appear to some, they will be esteemed by the best part of my readers as genuine traits of his character, contributing together to give a full, fair, and distinct view of it.
In 1770 he published a political pamphlet, entitled
"The False Alarm,"
intended to justify the conduct of ministry and their majority in the House of Commons, for having virtually assumed it as an axiom, that the expulsion of a Member of Parliament was equivalent to exclusion, and thus having declared Colonel Lutterel to be duly elected for the county of Middlesex, notwithstanding Mr. Wilkes had a great majority of votes. This being justly considered as a gross violation of the right of election, an alarm for the constitution extended itself all over the kingdom. To prove this alarm to be false, was the purpose of Johnson's pamphlet; but even his vast powers were inadequate to cope with constitutional truth and reason, and his argument failed of effect; and the House of Commons have since expunged the offensive resolution from their Journals. That the House of Commons might have expelled Mr. Wilkes repeatedly, and as often as he should be re-chosen, was not denied; but incapacitation cannot be but by an act of the whole legislature. It was wonderful to see how a prejudice in favour of government in general, and an aversion to popular clamour, could blind and contract such an understanding as Johnson's, in this particular case; yet the wit, the
sarcasm, the eloquent vivacity which this pamphlet displayed, made it be read with great avidity at the time, and it will ever be read with pleasure, for the sake of its composition. That it endeavoured to infuse a narcotick indifference, as to publick concerns, into the minds of the people, and that it broke out sometimes into an extreme coarseness of contemptuous abuse, is but too evident.
It must not, however, be omitted, that when the storm of his violence subsides, he takes a fair opportunity to pay a grateful compliment to the King, who had rewarded his merit:
"These low-born rulers have endeavoured, surely without effect, to alienate the affections of the people from the only King who for almost a century has much appeared to desire, or much endeavoured to deserve them."
And,
"Every honest man must lament, that the faction has been regarded with frigid neutrality by the Tories, who being long accustomed to signalise their principles by opposition to the Court, do not yet consider, that they have at last a King who knows not the name of party, and who wishes to be the common father of all his people."
To this pamphlet, which was at once discovered to be Johnson's, several answers came out, in which, care was taken to remind the publick of his former attacks upon government, and of his now being a pensioner, without allowing for the honourable terms upon which Johnson's pension was granted and accepted, or the change of system which the British court had undergone upon the accession of his present Majesty. He was, however, soothed in the highest strain of panegyrick, in a poem called
"The Remonstrance,"
by the Reverend Mr. Stockdale, to whom he was, upon many occasions, a kind protector.
The following admirable minute made by him, describes so well his own state, and that of numbers to whom self-examination is habitual, that I cannot omit it:
"June 1, 1770. Every man naturally persuades himself that he can keep his resolutions, nor is he convinced of his imbecillity but by length of time and frequency of experiment. This opinion of our own constancy is so prevalent, that we always despise him who suffers his general and settled purpose to be overpowered by an occasional desire. They, therefore, whom frequent failures have made desperate, cease to form resolutions; and they who are become cunning, do not tell them. Those who do not make them are very few, but of their effect little is perceived; for scarcely any man persists in a course of life planned by choice, but as he is restrained from deviation by some external power. He who may live as he will, seldom lives long in the observation of his own rules
Prayers and Meditations, p. 95.
."
Of this year I have obtained the following letters:
To the Reverend Dr.
FARMER,
Cambridge.
SIR,
AS no man ought to keep wholly to himself any possession that may be useful to the publick, I hope you will not think me unreasonably intrusive, if I have recourse to you for such information as you are more able to give me than any other man.
In support of an opinion which you have already placed above the need of any more support, Mr. Steevens, a very ingenious gentleman, lately of King's College, has collected an account of all the translations which Shakspeare might have seen and used. He wishes his catalogue to be perfect, and therefore intreats that you will favour him by the insertion of such additions as the accuracy of your inquiries has enabled you to make. To this request, I take the liberty of adding my own solicitation.
We have no immediate use for this catalogue, and therefore do not desire that it should interrupt or hinder your more important employments. But it will be kind to let us know that you receive it.
I am, Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
Johnson's-court, Fleet-street,
March 21, 1770.
To the Reverend Mr.
THOMAS WARTON.
DEAR SIR,
THE readiness with which you were pleased to promise me some notes on Shakspeare, was a new instance of your friendship. I shall not hurry you; but am desired by Mr. Steevens, who helps me in this edition, to let you know, that we shall print the tragedies first, and shall therefore want first the notes which belong to them. We think not to incommode the readers with a supplement; and therefore, what we cannot put into its proper place, will do us no good. We shall not begin to print before the end of six weeks, perhaps not so soon.
I am, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
June 23, 1770.
To the Reverend Dr.
JOSEPH WARTON.
DEAR SIR,
I AM revising my edition of Shakspeare, and remember that I formerly misrepresented your opinion of Lear. Be pleased to write the paragraph as you would have it, and send it. If you have any remarks of your own upon that or any other play, I shall gladly receive them.
Make my compliments to Mrs. Warton. I sometimes think of wandering for a few days to Winchester, but am apt to delay.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Sept. 27, 1770.
To Mr.
FRANCIS BARBER,
at Mrs.
CLAPP
's, Bishop-Stortford, Hertfordshire.
DEAR FRANCIS,
I AM at last sat down to write to you, and should very much blame myself for having neglected you so long, if I did not impute that and many other failings to want of health. I hope not to be so long silent again. I am very well satisfied with your progress, if you can really perform the exercises which you are set; and I hope Mr. Ellis does not suffer you to impose on him, or on yourself.
Make my compliments to Mr. Ellis, and to Mrs. Clapp, and Mr. Smith.
Let me know what English books you read for your entertainment. You can never be wise unless you love reading.
Do not imagine that I shall forget or forsake you; for if, when I examine you, I find that you have not lost your time, you shall want no encouragement from
Yours affectionately, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
Sept 25, 1770.
To the same.
DEAR FRANCIS,
I HOPE you mind your business. I design you shall stay with Mrs. Clapp these holidays. If you are invited out you may go, if Mr. Ellis gives leave. I have ordered you some cloaths, which you will receive, I believe, next week. My compliments to Mrs. Clapp and to Mr. Ellis, and Mr. Smith &c.
I am Your affectionate SAM. JOHNSON.
December 7, 1770.
During this year there was a total cessation of all correspondence between Dr. Johnson and me, without any coldness on either side, but merely from procrastination, continued from day to day; and as I was not in London, I had no opportunity of enjoying his company and recording his conversation. To supply this blank, I shall present my readers with some
Collectanea,
obligingly furnished to me by the Reverend Dr. Maxwell, of Falkland, in Ireland, some time assistant preacher at the Temple, and for many years the social friend of Johnson, who spoke of him with a very kind regard.
My acquaintance with that great and venerable character commenced in the year 1754. I was introduced to him by Mr. Grierson
Son of the learned Mrs. Grierson, who was patronised by the late Lord Granville, and was the editor of several of the classicks.
, his Majesty's printer at Dublin, a gentleman of uncommon learning, and great wit and vivacity. Mr. Grierson died in Germany, at the age of twenty-seven. Dr. Johnson highly respected his abilities, and often observed, that he possessed more extensive knowledge than any man of his years he had ever known. His industry was equal to his talents; and he particularly excelled in every species of philological learning, and was, perhaps, the best critick of the age he lived in.
I must always remember with gratitude my obligation to Mr. Grierson, for the honour and happiness of Dr. Johnson's acquaintance and friendship, which continued uninterrupted and undiminished to his death: a connection, that was at once the pride and happiness of my life.
What pity it is, that so much wit and good sense as he continually exhibited in conversation, should perish unrecorded! Few persons quitted his company without perceiving themselves wiser and better than they were before. On serious subjects he flashed the most interesting conviction upon his auditors; and upon lighter topicks, you might have supposed—
Albano musas de monte locutas.
Though I can hope to add but little to the celebrity of so exalted a character, by any communications I can furnish, yet out of pure respect to his memory, I will venture to transmit to you some anecdotes concerning him, which fell under my own observation. The very
minutiae
of such a character must be interesting, and may be compared to the filings of diamonds.
In politicks he was deemed a Tory, but certainly was not so in the obnoxious or party sense of the term; for while he asserted the legal and salutary prerogatives of the crown, he no less respected the constitutional liberties of the people. Whiggism, at the time of the Revolution, he said, was accompanied with certain principles; but latterly, as a mere party distinction under Walpole and the Pelhams, was no better than the politicks of stock-jobbers, and the religion of infidels.
He detested the idea of governing by parliamentary corruption, and asserted most strenuously, that a prince steadily and conspicuously pursuing the interests of his people, could not fail of parliamentary concurrence. A prince of ability, he contended, might and should be the directing soul and spirit of his own administration; in short, his own minister, and not the mere head of a party: and then, and not till then, would the royal dignity be sincerely respected.
Johnson seemed to think, that a certain degree of crown influence over the Houses of Parliament, (not meaning a corrupt and shameful dependence,) was very salutary, nay even necessary, in our mixed government.
'For, (said he,) if the members were under no crown influence, and disqualified from receiving any gratification from Court, and resembled, as they possibly might, Pym and Haslerig, and other stubborn and sturdy members of the long Parliament, the wheels of government would be totally obstructed. Such men would oppose, merely to shew their power, from envy, jealousy, and perversity of disposition; and not gaining themselves, would hate and oppose all who did: not loving the person of the prince, and conceiving they owed him little gratitude, from the mere spirit of insolence and contradiction, they would oppose and thwart him upon all occasions.'
The inseparable imperfection annexed to all human governments, consisted, he said, in not being able to create a sufficient fund of virtue and principle to carry the laws into due and effectual execution. Wisdom might plan, but virtue alone could execute. And where could sufficient virtue be found? A variety of delegated, and often discretionary powers must be entrusted somewhere; which, if not governed by integrity and conscience, would necessarily be abused, till at last the constable would sell his for a shilling.
This excellent person was sometimes charged with abetting slavish and arbitrary principles of government. Nothing in my opinion could be a grosser calumny and misrepresentation; for how can it be rationally supposed, that he should adopt such pernicious and absured opinions, who supported his philosophical character with so much dignity, was extremely jealous of his personal liberty and independence, and could not brook the smallest appearance of neglect or insult, even from the highest personages?
But let us view him in some instances of more familiar life.
His general mode of life, during my acquaintance, seemed to be pretty uniform. About twelve o'clock I commonly visited him, and frequently found him in bed, or declaiming over his tea, which he drank very plentifully. He generally had a levee of morning visitors, chiefly men of letters; Hawksworth, Goldsmith, Murphy, Langton, Steevens, Beauclerk, &c. &c. and sometimes learned ladies, particularly I remember a French lady of wit and fashion doing him the honour of a visit. He seemed to me to be considered as a kind of publick oracle, whom every body thought they had a right to visit and consult; and doubtless they were well rewarded. I never could discover how he found time for his compositions. He declaimed all the morning, then went to dinner at a tavern, where he commonly staid late, and then drank his tea at some friend's house, over which he loitered a great while, but seldom took supper. I fancy he must have read and wrote chiefly in the night, for I can scarely recollect that he ever refused going with me to a tavern, and he often went to Ranelagh, which he deemed a place of innocent recreation.
He frequently gave all the silver in his pocket to the poor, who watched him, between his house and the tavern where he dined. He walked the streets at all hours, and said he was never robbed, for the rogues knew he had little money, nor had the appearance of having much.
Though the most accessible and communicative man alive, yet when he suspected he was invited to be exhibited, he constantly spurned the invitation.
Two young women from Staffordshire visited him when I was present, to consult him on the subject of Methodism, to which they were inclined.
'Come, (said he,) you pretty fools, dine with Maxwell and me at the Mitre, and we will talk over that subject;'
which they did, and after dinner he took one of them upon his knee, and fondled her for half an hour together.
Upon a visit to me at a country lodging near Twickenham, he asked what sort of society I had there. I told him, but indifferent; as they chiefly consisted of opulent traders, retired from business. He said, he never much liked that class of people;
'For, Sir, (said he,) they have lost the civility of tradesmen, without acquiring the manners of gentlemen.'
Johnson was much attached to London: he observed, that a man stored his mind better there, than any where else; and that in remote situations a man's body might be feasted, but his mind was starved, and his faculties apt to degenerate, from want of exercise and competition. No place, he said, cured a man's vanity or arrogance, so well as London; for as no man was either great or good
per se,
but as compared with others not so good or great, he was sure to find in the metropolis many his equals, and some his superiours. He observed, that a man in London was in less danger of falling in love indiscreetly, than any where else; for there the difficulty of deciding between the conflicting pretensions of a vast variety of objects, kept him safe. He told me, that he had frequently been offered country preferment, if he would consent to take orders; but he could not leave the improved society of the capital, or consent to exchange the exhilarating joys and splendid decorations of publick life, for the obscurity, insipidity, and uniformity of remote situations.
Speaking of Mr. Harte, Canon of Windsor, and writer of 'The History of Gustavus Adolphus,' he much commended him as a scholar, and a man of the most companionable talents he had ever known. He said, the defects in his history proceeded not from imbecillity, but from foppery.
He loved, he said, the old black letter books; they were rich in matter, though their style was inelegant; wonderfully so, considering how conversant the writer
were with the best models of antiquity.
Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy,' he said, was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.
He frequently exhorted me to set about writing a History of Ireland, and archly remarked, there had been some good Irish writers, and that one Irishman might at least aspire to be equal to another. He had great compassion for the miseries and distresses of the Irish nation, particularly the Papists; and severely reprobated the barbarous debilitating policy of the British government, which he said was th
most detestable mode of persecution. To a gentleman, who hinted such
might be necessary to support the authority of the English government
plied by saying,
'Let the authority of the English government perish
than be maintained by iniquity. Better would it be to restrain the turbulence of the natives by the authority of the sword, and to make them amenable to law and justice by an effectual and vigorous police, than to grind them to powder by all manner of disabilities and incapacities. Better (said he,) to hang or drown people at once, than by an unrelenting persecution to beggar and starve them.'
The moderation and humanity of the present times have, in some measure, justified the wisdom of his observations.
Dr. Johnson was often accused of prejudices, nay, antipathy, with regard to the natives of Scotland. Surely, so illiberal a prejudice never entered his mind: and it is well known, many natives of that respectable country possessed a large share in his esteem; nor were any of them ever excluded from his good offices, as far as opportunity permitted. True it is, he considered the Scotch, nationally, as a crafty, designing people, eagerly attentive to their own interest, and too apt to overlook the claims and pretensions of other people.
'While they confine their benevolence, in a manner, exclusively to those of their own country, they expect to share in the good offices of other people. Now (said Johnson,) this principle is either right or wrong; if right, we should do well to imitate such conduct; if wrong, we cannot too much detest it.'
Being solicited to compose a funeral sermon for the daughter of a tradesman, he naturally enquired into the character of the deceased; and being told she was remarkable for her humility and condescension to inferiours, he observed, that those were very laudable qualities, but it might not be so easy to discover who the lady's inferiours were.
Of a certain player he remarked, that his conversation usually threatened and announced more than it performed; that he fed you with a continual renovation of hope, to end in a constant succession of disappointment.
When exasperated by contradiction, he was apt to treat his opponents with too much acrimony; as,
'Sir, you don't see your way through that question:'—'Sir, you talk the language of ignorance.'
On my observing to him that a certain gentleman had remained silent the whole evening, in the midst of a very brilliant and learned society,
'Sir, (said he,) the conversation overflowed and drowned him.'
His philosophy, though austere and solemn, was by no means morose and cynical, and never blunted the laudable sensibilities of his character, or exempted him from the influence of the tender passions. Want of tenderness, he always alledged, was want of parts, and was no less a proof of stupidity than depravity.
Speaking of Mr. Hanway, who published 'A Six Weeks Tour through the South of England,'
'Jonas, (said he,) acquired some reputation by travelling abroad, but lost it all by travelling at home.'
Of the passion of love he remarked, that its violence and ill effects were much exaggerated; for who has known any real sufferings on that head, more than from the exorbitancy of any other passion?
He much commended 'Law's Serious Call,' which he said was the finest piece of hortatory theology in any language.
'Law (said he,) fell latterly into the reveries of Jacob Behmen, whom Law alledged to have been somewhat in the same state with St. Paul, and to have seen
unutterable things.
Were it even so, (said Johnson,) Jacob would have resembled St. Paul still more, by not attempting to utter them.'
He observed, that the established clergy in general did not preach plain enough; and that polished periods and glittering sentences flew over the heads of the common people, without any impression upon their hearts. Something might be necessary, he observed, to excite the affections of the common people, who were sunk in languor and lethargy, and therefore he supposed that the new concomitants of methodism might probably produce so desirable an effect. The mind, like the body, he observed, delighted in change and novelty, and even in religion itself, courted new appearances and modifications. Whatever might be thought of some methodist teachers, he said, he could scarcely doubt the sincerity of that man, who travelled nine hundred miles in a month, and preached twelve times a week; for no adequate reward, merely temporal, could be given for such indefatigable labour.
Of Dr. Priestly's theological works, he remarked, that they tended to unsettle every thing, and yet settled nothing.
He was much affected by the death of his mother, and wrote to me to come and assist him to compose his mind, which indeed I found extremely agitated. He lamented that all serious and religious conversation was banished from the society of men, and yet great advantages might be derived from it. All acknowledged, he said, what hardly any body practised, the obligation we were under of making the concerns of eternity the governing principles of our lives. Every man, he observed, at last wishes for retreat: he sees his expectations frustrated in the world, and begins to wean himself from it, and to prepare for everlasting separation.
He observed, that the influence of London now extended every where, and that from all manner of communication being opened, there shortly would be no remains of the ancient simplicity, or places of cheap retreat to be found.
He was no admirer of blank-verse, and said it always failed, unless sustained by the dignity of the subject. In blank-verse, he said, the language suffered more distortion, to keep it out of prose, than any inconvenience or limitation to be apprehended from the shackles and circumscription of rhyme.
He reproved me once for saying grace without mention of the name of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, and hoped in future I would be more mindful of the apostolical injunction.
He refused to go out of a room before me at Mr. Langton's house, saying, he hoped he knew his rank better than to presume to take place of a Doctor in Divinity. I mention such little anecdotes, merely to shew the peculiar turn and habit of his mind.
He used frequently to observe, that there was more to be endured than enjoyed, in the general condition of human life; and frequently quoted those lines of Dryden:
'Strange cozenage! none would live past years again,
'Yet all hope pleasure from what still remain.'
For his part, he said, he never passed that week in his life which he would wish to repeat, were an angel to make the proposal to him.
He was of opinion, that the English nation cultivated both their soil and their reason better than any other people; but admitted that the French, though not the highest, perhaps, in any department of literature, yet in every department were very high. Intellectual pre-eminence, he observed, was the highest superiority; and that every nation derived their highest reputation from the splendour and dignity of their writers. Voltaire, he said, was a good narrator, and that his principal merit consisted in a happy selection and arrangement of circumstances.
Speaking of the French novels, compared with Richardson's, he said they might be pretty baubles, but a wren was not an eagle.
In a Latin conversation with the Pere Boscovitz, at the house of Mrs. Cholmondeley, I heard him maintain the superiority of Sir Isaac Newton over all foreign philosophers, with a dignity and eloquence that surprized that learned foreigner. It being observed to him, that a rage for every thing English prevailed much in France after Lord Chatham's glorious war, he said, he did not wonder at it, for that we had droubbed those fellows into a proper reverence for us, and that their national petulance required periodical chastisement.
Lord Lyttelton's Dialogues, he deemed a nugatory performance.
'That man (said he,) sat down to write a book, to tell the world what the world had all his life been telling him.'
Somebody observing that the Scotch Highlanders in the year 1745, had made surprizing efforts, considering their numerous wants and disadvantages:
'Yes, Sir, (said he,) their wants were numerous, but you have not mentioned the greatest of them all,—the want of law.'
Speaking of the
inward light,
to which some methodists pretended, he said, it was a principle utterly incompatible with social or civil security.
'If a man (said he,) pretends to a principle of action of which I can know nothing, nay, not so much as that he has it, but only that he pretends to it; how can I tell what that person may be prompted to do? When a person professes to be governed by a written ascertained law, I can then know where to find him.'
The poem of Fingal, he said, was a mere unconnected rhapsody, a tiresome repetition of the same images.
'In vain shall we look for the
lucidus ordo,
where there is neither end or object, design or moral,
nec certa recurrit imago.'
Being asked by a young nobleman, what was become of the gallantry and military spirit of the old English nobility, he replied,
'Why, my Lord, I'll tell you what is become of it; it is gone into the city to look for a fortune.'
Speaking of a dull tiresome fellow, whom he chanced to meet, he said,
'That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.'
Much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that
'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an
attorney.'
He spoke with much contempt of the notice taken of Woodhouse, the poetical shoemaker. He said, it was all vanity and childishness; and that such objects were, to those who patronised them, mere mirrours of their own superiority.
'They had better (said he,) furnish the man with good implements for his trade, than raise subscriptions for his poems. He may make an excellent shoemaker, but can never make a good poet. A school-boy's exercise may be a pretty thing for a school-boy, but is no treat for a man.'
Speaking of Boetius, who was the favourite writer of the middle ages, he said it was very surprizing, that upon such a subject, and in such a situation, he should be
magis philosophus quàm Christianus.
Speaking of Arthur Murphy, whom he very much loved,
'I don't know (said he,) that Arthur can be classed with the very first dramatick writers; yet at present I doubt much whether we have any thing superior to Arthur.'
Speaking of the national debt, he said, it was an idle dream to suppose that the country could sink under it. Let the publick creditors be ever so clamorous, the interest of millions must ever prevail over that of thousands.
Of Dr. Kennicott's Collations, he observed, that though the text should not be much mended thereby, yet it was no small advantage to know, that we had as good a text as the most consummate industry and diligence could procure.
Johnson observed, that so many objections might be made to every thing, that nothing could overcome them but the necessity of doing something. No man would be of any profession, as simply opposed to not being of it: but every one must do something.
He remarked, that a London parish was a very comfortless thing, for the clergyman seldom knew the face of one out of ten of his parishioners.
Of the late Mr. Mallet he spoke with no great respect: said, he was ready for any dirty job: that he had wrote against Byng at the instigation of the ministry, and was equally ready to write for him, provided he found his account in it.
A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married immediately after his wife died: Johnson said, it was the triumph of hope over experience.
He observed, that a man of sense and education should meet a suitable companion in a wife. It was a miserable thing when the conversation could only be such as, whether the mutton should be boiled or roasted, and probably a dispute about that.
He did not approve of late marriages, observing, that more was lost in point of time, than compensated for by any possible advantages. Even ill assorted marriages were preferable to cheerless celibacy.
Of old Sheridan he remarked, that he neither wanted parts or literature, but that his vanity and Quixotism obscured his merits.
He said, foppery was never cured; it was the bad stamina of the mind, which, like those of the body, were never rectified: once a coxcomb, and always a coxcomb.
Being told that Gilbert Cowper called him the Caliban of literature;
'Well, (said he,) I must dub him the Punchinello.'
Speaking of the old Earl of Corke and Orrery, he said,
'that man spent his life in catching at an object, [literary eminence,] which he had not power to grasp.'
He often used to quote, with great pathos, those fine lines of Virgil:
'Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi
'Prima fugit; subeunt morbi, tristisque senectus,
'Et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis.'
To find a substitution for violated morality, he said, was the leading feature in all perversions of religion.
In 1771 he published another political pamphlet, entitled
"Thoughts on the late Transactions respecting Falkland's Islands,"
in which, upon materials furnished to him by ministry, and upon general topicks expanded in his richest style, he successfully endeavoured to persuade the nation that it was wise and laudable to suffer the question of right to remain undecided, rather than involve our country in another war. It has been suggested by some, with what truth I shall not take upon me to decide, that he rated the consequence of those islands to Great-Britain too low. But however this may be, every humane mind must surely applaud the earnestness with which he averted the calamity of war; a calamity so dreadful, that it is astonishing how civilised, nay, Christian nations, can deliberately continue to renew it. His description of its miseries in this pamphlet, is one of the finest pieces of eloquence in the English language. Upon this occasion, too, we find Johnson lashing the party in opposition with unbounded severity, and making the fullest use of what he ever reckoned a most effectual argumentative instrument, contempt. His character of their very able mysterious champion, JUNIUS, is executed with all the force of his genius, and finished with the highest care. He seems to have exulted in sallying forth to single combat against the boasted and formidable hero, who bade defiance to
"principalities and powers, and the rulers of this world."
This pamphlet, it is observable, was softened in one particular, after the first edition; for the conclusion of Mr. George Grenville's character stood thus:
"Let him not, however, be depreciated in his grave. He had powers not universally possessed: could he have enforced payment of the Manilla ransom,
he could have counted it."
Which, instead of retaining its sly sharp point, was reduced to a mere flat unmeaning expression, or, if I may use the word,—
truism:
"He had powers not universally possessed: and if he sometimes erred, he was likewise sometimes right."
Mr. Strahan, the printer, who had been long in intimacy with Johnson, in the course of his literary labours, who was at once his friendly agent in receiving his pension for him, and his banker in supplying him with money when he wanted it; who was himself now a Member of Parliament, and who loved much to be employed in political negociation; thought he should do eminent service, both to government and Johnson, if he could be the means of his getting a seat in the House of Commons. With this view, he wrote a letter to one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, of which he gave me a copy in his own hand-writing, which is as follows:
SIR,
YOU will easily recollect, when I had the honour of waiting upon you some time ago, I took the liberty to observe to you, that Dr. Johnson would make an excellent figure in the House of Commons, and heartily wished he had a seat there. My reasons are briefly these:
I know his perfect good affection to his Majesty, and his government, which I am certain he wishes to support by every means in his power.
He possesses a great share of manly, nervous, and ready eloquence; is quick in discerning the strength and weakness of an argument; can express himself with clearness and precision, and fears the face of no man alive.
His known character, as a man of extraordinary sense and unimpeached virtue, would secure him the attention of the House, and could not fail to give him a proper weight there.
He is capable of the greatest application, and can undergo any degree of labour, where he sees it necessary, and where his heart and affections are strongly engaged. His Majesty's ministers might therefore securely depend on his doing, upon every proper occasion, the utmost that could be expected from him. They would find him ready to vindicate such measures as tended to promote the stability of government, and resolute and steady in carrying them into execution. Nor is any thing to be apprehended from the supposed impetuosity of his temper. To the friends of the King you will find him a lamb, to his enemies a lion.
For these reasons, I humbly apprehend that he would be a very able and useful member. And I will venture to say, the employment would not be disagreeable to him; and knowing, as I do, his strong affection to the King, his ability to serve him in that capacity, and the extreme ardour with which I am convinced he would engage in that service, I must repeat, that I wish most heartily to see him in the House.
If you think this worthy of attention, you will be pleased to take a convenient opportunity of mentioning it to Lord North. If his Lordship should happily approve of it, I shall have the satisfaction of having been, in some degree, the humble instrument of doing my country, in my opinion, a very essential service. I know your good-nature, and your zeal for the publick welfare, will plead my excuse for giving you this trouble. I am, with the greatest respect,
Sir, Your most obedient and humble servant, WILLIAM STRAHAN.
New-street,
March 30, 1771.
This recommendation we know was not effectual; but how, or for what reason, can only be conjectured. It is not to be believed that Mr. Strahan would have applied, unless Johnson had approved of it. I never heard him mention the subject; but at a later period of his life, when Sir Joshua Reynolds told him that Mr. Edmund Burke had said, that if he had come early into parliament, he certainly would have been the greatest speaker that ever was there, Johnson exclaimed,
"I should like to try my hand now."
It has been much agitated among his friends and others, whether he would have been a powerful speaker in Parliament, had he been brought in when advanced in life. I am inclined to think, that his extensive knowledge, his quickness and force of mind, his vivacity and richness of expression, his wit and humour, and above all his poignancy of sarcasm, would have had great effect in a popular assembly; and that the magnitude of his figure, and striking peculiarity of his manner, would have aided the effect. But I remember it was observed by Mr. Flood, that Johnson having been long used to sententious brevity and the short flights of conversation, might have failed in that continued and expanded kind of argument, which is requisite in stating complicated matters in publick speaking; and as a proof of this he mentioned the supposed speeches in Parliament written by him for the magazine, none of which, in his opinion, were at all like real debates. The opinion of one who is himself so eminent an orator, must be allowed to have great weight. It was confirmed by Sir William Scott, who mentioned, that Johnson had told him, that he had several times tried to speak in the Society of Arts and Sciences, but
"had found he could not get on."
From Mr. William Gerard Hamilton I have heard, that Johnson, when observing to him that it was prudent for a man who had not been accustomed to speak in publick to begin his speech in as simple a manner as possible, acknowledged that he rose in that society to deliver a speech which he had prepared;
"but (said he,) all my flowers of oratory forsook me."
I however cannot help wishing, that he
had
"tried his hand"
in parliament; and I wonder that ministry did not make the experiment.
I at length renewed a correspondence which had been too long discontinued:
To Dr.
JOHNSON.
MY DEAR SIR,
Edinburgh,
April 18, 1771.
I CAN now fully understand those intervals of silence in your correspondence with me, which have often given me anxiety and uneasiness; for although I am conscious that my veneration and love for Mr. Johnson have never in the least abated, yet I have deferred for almost a year and a half to write to him.
In the subsequent part of this letter, I gave him an account of my comfortable life as a married man, and a lawyer in practice at the Scotch bar; invited him to Scotland, and promised to attend him to the Highlands, and Hebrides.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
IF you are now able to comprehend that I might neglect to write without diminution of affection, you have taught me, likewise, how that neglect may be uneasily felt without resentment. I wished for your letter a long time, and when it came, it amply recompensed the delay. I never was so much pleased as now with your account of yourself; and sincerely hope, that between publick business, improving studies, and domestick pleasures, neither melancholy nor caprice will find any place for entrance. Whatever philosophy may determine of material nature, it is certainly true of intellectual nature, that it
abhors a vacuum:
our minds cannot be empty; and evil will break in upon them, if they are not pre-occupied by good. My dear Sir, mind your studies, mind your business, make your lady happy, and be a good Christian. After this,
'—tristiliam et metus
'Trades protervis in mare Creticum
'Portare ventis.'
If we perform our duty, we shall be safe and steady,
'Sive per,'
&c. whether we climb the Highlands, or are tost among the Hebrides; and I hope the time will come when we may try our powers both with cliffs and water. I see but little of Lord Elibank, I know not why; perhaps by my own fault. I am this day going into Staffordshire and Derbyshire for six weeks. I am,
dear Sir,
Your most affectionate And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
June 20, 1771.
To Sir
JOSHUA REYNOLDS,
in Leicester-fields.
DEAR SIR,
WHEN I came to Lichfield, I found that my portrait had been much visited, and much admired. Every man has a lurking wish to appear considerable in his native place; and I was pleased with the dignity conferred by such a testimony of your regard.
Be pleased, therefore, to accept the thanks of, Sir, Your most obliged And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Ashbourn in Derbyshire,
July 17, 1771.
Compliments to Miss Reynolds.
To Dr.
JOHNSON.
MY DEAR SIR,
Edinburgh,
July 27, 1771.
THE bearer of this, Mr. Beattie, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Aberdeen, is desirous of being introduced to your acquaintance. His genius and learning, and labours in the service of virtue and religion, render him very worthy of it; and as he has a high esteem of your character, I hope you will give him a favourable reception.
I ever am, &c. JAMES BOSWELL.
In October I again wrote to him, thanking him for his last letter, and his obliging reception of Mr. Beattie; informing him that I had been at Alnwick lately, and had good accounts of him from Dr. Percy.
In his religious record of this year, we observe that he was better than usual, both in body and mind, and better satisfied with the regularity of his conduct. But he is still
"trying his ways"
too rigorously. He charges himself with not rising early enough; yet he mentions what was surely a sufficient excuse for this, supposing it to be a duty seriously required, as he all his life appears to have thought it.
"One great hindrance is want of rest; my nocturnal complaints grow less troublesome towards morning; and I am tempted to repair the deficiencies of the night
Prayers and Meditations, p. 101.
."
Alas! how hard would it be if this indulgence were to be imputed to a sick man as a crime. In his retrospect on the following Easter Eve, he says,
"When I review the last year, I am able to recollect so little done, that shame and sorrow, though perhaps too weakly, come upon me."
Had he been judging of any one else in the same circumstances, how clear would he have been on the favourable side. How very difficult, and in my opinion almost constitutionally impossible it was for him to be raised early, even by the strongest resolutions, appears from a note in one of his little paper books, (containing words arranged for his Dictionary,) written, I suppose, about 1753:
"I do not remember that since I left Oxford, I ever rose early by mere choice, but once or twice at Edial, and two or three times for the Rambler."
I think he had fair ground enough to have quieted his mind on this subject, by concluding that he was physically incapable of what is at best but a commodious regulation.
In 1772 he was altogether quiescent as an authour; but it will be found, from the various evidences which I shall bring together, that his mind was acute, lively, and vigorous.
To Sir
JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
DEAR SIR,
BE pleased to send to Mr. Banks, whose place of residence I do not know, this note, which I have sent open, that, if you please, you may read it.
When you send it, do not use your own seal.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Feb. 27, 1772.
To
JOSEPH BANKS,
Esq.
"Perpetua ambitâ bis terrâ praemia lactis
"Haec habet altrici Capra secunda Jovis
Thus translated by a friend:
"In fame scarce second to the nurse of Jove,
"This Goat, who twice the world had travers'd round,
"Deserving both her master's care and love,
"Ease and perpetual pasture now has found."
."
SIR,
I RETURN thanks to you and to Dr. Solander for the pleasure which I received in yesterday's conversation. I could not recollect a motto for your Goat, but have given her one. You, Sir, may perhaps have an epick poem from some happier pen than,
Sir,
Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Johnson's-court, Fleetstreet,
Feb. 27, 1772.
To Dr.
JOHNSON.
MY DEAR SIR,
Edinburgh,
March 3, 1772.
IT is hard that I cannot prevail on you to write to me oftener. But I am convinced that it is in vain to expect from you a private correspondence with any regularity. I must, therefore, look upon you as a fountain of wisdom, from whence few rills are communicated to a distance, and which must be approached at its source, to partake fully of its virtues.
* * * * * *
I am coming to London soon, and am to appear in an appeal from the Court of Session in the House of Lords. A schoolmaster in Scotland was, by a court of inferiour jurisdiction, deprived of his office for being somewhat severe in the chastisement of his scholars. The Court of Session considering it to be dangerous to the interest of learning and education to lessen the dignity of teachers, and make them afraid of too indulgent parents, instigated by the complaints of their children, restored him. His enemies have appealed to the House of Lords, though the salary is only twenty pounds a year. I was Counsel for him here. I hope there will be little fear of a reversal; but I must beg to have your aid in my plan of supporting the decree. It is a general question, and not a point of particular law.
* * * * * *
I am, &c. JAMES BOSWELL.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
THAT you are coming so soon to town I am very glad; and still more glad that you are coming as an advocate. I think nothing more likely to make your life pass happily away, than that consciousness of your own value which eminence in your profession will certainly confer. If I can give you any collateral help, I hope you do not suspect that it will be wanting. My kindness for you has neither the merit of singular virtue, nor the reproach of singular prejudice. Whether to love you be right or wrong, I have many on my side: Mrs. Thrale loves you, and Mrs. Williams loves you, and what would have inclined me to love you, if I had been neutral before, you are a great favourite of Dr. Beattie.
Of Dr. Beattie I should have thought much, but that his lady puts him out of my head: she is a very lovely woman.
The ejection which you come hither to oppose, appears very cruel, unreasonable, and oppressive. I should think there could not be much doubt of your success.
My health grows better, yet I am not fully recovered. I believe it is held, that men do not recover very fast after threescore. I hope yet to see Beattie's College: and have not given up the western voyage. But however all this may be or not, let us try to make each other happy when we meet, and not refer our pleasure to distant times or distant places.
How comes it that you tell me nothing of your lady? I hope to see her some time, and till then shall be glad to hear of her.
I am, dear Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
March 15, 1772.
To
BENNET LANGTON,
Esq. near Spilsby, Lincolnshire.
DEAR SIR,
I CONGRATULATE you and Lady Rothes
Mr. Langton married the Countess Dowager of Rothes.
on your little man, and hope you will all be many years happy together.
Poor Miss Langton can have little part in the joy of her family. She this day called her aunt Langton to receive the sacrament with her; and made me talk yesterday on such subjects as suit her condition. It will probably be her
viaticum.
I surely need not mention again that she wishes to see her mother.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
March 14, 1772.
On the 21st of March, I was happy to find myself again in my friend's study, and was glad to see my old acquaintance Mr. Francis Barber, who was now returned home. Dr. Johnson received me with a hearty welcome, saying,
"I am glad you are come, and glad you are come upon such an errand,"
(alluding to the cause of the schoolmaster.) BOSWELL.
"I hope, Sir, he will be in no danger. It is a very delicate matter to interfere between a master and his scholars: nor do I see how you can fix the degree of severity that a master may use."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, till you fix the degree of obstinacy and negligence of the scholars, you cannot fix the degree of severity of the master. Severity must be continued until obstinacy be subdued, and negligence be cured."
He mentioned the severity of Hunter, his own master.
"Sir, (said I,) Hunter is a Scotch name: so it should seem this schoolmaster who beat you so severely was a Scotchman. I can now account for your prejudice against the Scotch."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, he was not Scotch; and, abating his brutality, he was a very good master."
We talked of his two political pamphlets,
"The False Alarm,"
and
"Thoughts concerning Falkland's Islands."
JOHNSON.
"Well, Sir, which of them did you think the best?"
BOSWELL.
"I liked the second best."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I liked the first best; and Beattie liked the first best. Sir, there is a subtlety of disquisition in the first, that is worth all the fire of the second."
BOSWELL.
"Pray, Sir, is it true that Lord North paid you a visit, and that you got two hundred a year in addition to your pension?"
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir. Except what I had from the bookseller, I did not get a farthing by them. And, between you and me, I believe Lord North is no friend to me."
BOSWELL.
"How so, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, you cannot account for the fancies of men.—Well, how does Lord Elibank? and how does Lord Monboddo?"
BOSWELL.
"Very well, Sir. Lord Monboddo still maintains the superiority of the savage life."
JOHNSON.
"What strange narrowness of mind now is that, to think the things we have not known are better than the things which we have known."
BOSWELL.
"Why, Sir, that is a common prejudice."
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir; but a common prejudice should not be found in one whose trade it is to rectify errour."
A gentleman having come in who was to go as a Mate in the ship along with Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, Dr. Johnson asked what were the names of the ships destined for the expedition. The gentleman answered, they were once to be called the Drake and the Raleigh, but now they were to be called the Resolution and the Adventure. JOHNSON.
"Much better; for had the Raleigh returned without going round the world, it would have been ridiculous. To give them the names of the Drake and the Raleigh was laying a trap for satire."
BOSWELL.
"Had not you some desire to go upon this expedition, Sir?"
JOHNSON.
"Why yes; but I soon laid it aside. Sir, there is very little of intellectual in the course. Besides, I see but at a small distance. So it was not worth my while to go to see birds fly, which I should not have seen fly; and fishes swim, which I should not have seen swim."
The gentleman being gone, and Dr. Johnson having left the room for some time, a debate arose between the Reverend Mr. Stockdale and Mrs. Desmoulins, whether Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander were entitled to any share of glory from their expedition. When Dr. Johnson returned to us, I told him the subject of their dispute. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, it was properly for botany that they went out: I believe they thought only of culling of simples."
I thanked him for shewing civilities to Beattie.
"Sir, (said he,) I should thank
you.
We all love Beattie. Mrs. Thrale says, if ever she has another husband, she'll have Beattie. He sunk upon us that he was married; else we should have shewn his lady more civilities. She is a very fine woman. But how can you shew civilities to a non-entity? I did not think he had been married. Nay, I did not think about it one way or other; but he did not tell us of his lady till late."
He then spoke of St. Kilda, the most remote of the Hebrides. I told him, I thought of buying it. JOHNSON.
"Pray do, Sir. We shall go and pass a winter amid the blasts there. We shall have fine fish, and we shall take some dried tongues with us, and some books. We shall have a strong built vessel, and some Orkney men to navigate her. We must build a tolerable house: but we may carry with us a wooden house ready made, and requiring nothing but to be put up. Consider, Sir, by buying St. Kilda, you may keep the people from falling into worse hands. We must give them a clergyman, and he shall be one of Beattie's choosing. He shall be educated at Marischal College. I'll be your Lord Chancellor, or what you please."
BOSWELL.
"Are you serious, Sir, in advising me to buy St. Kilda? for if you should advise me to go to Japan, I believe I should do it."
JOHNSON.
"Why yes, Sir, I am serious."
BOSWELL.
"Why then I'll see what can be done."
I gave him an account of the two parties in the church of Scotland, those for supporting the rights of patrons, independent of the people, and those against it. JOHNSON.
"It should be settled one way or other. I cannot wish well to a popular election of the clergy, when I consider that it occasions such animosities, such unworthy courting of the people, such slanders between the contending parties, and other disadvantages. It is enough to allow the people to remonstrate against the nomination of a minister for solid reasons;"
(I suppose he meant heresy or immorality.) He was engaged to dine abroad, and asked me to return to him in the evening at nine, which I accordingly did.
We drank tea with Mrs. Williams, who told us a story of second sight, which happened in Wales where she was born.—He listened to it very attentively, and said he should be glad to have some instances of that faculty well authenticated. His elevated wish for more and more evidence for spirit, in opposition to the groveling belief of materialism, led him to a love of such mysterious disquisitions. He again justly observed, that we could have no certainty of the truth of supernatural appearances, unless something was told us which we could not know by ordinary means, or something done which could not be done but by supernatural power; that Pharaoh in reason and justice required such evidence from Moses; nay, that our Saviour said,
"If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin."
He had said in the morning, that
"Macaulay's History of St. Kilda,"
was very well written, except some foppery about liberty and slavery. I mentioned to him that Macaulay told me, he was advised to leave out of his book the wonderful story that upon the approach of a stranger all the inhabitants catch cold; but that it had been so well authenticated, he determined to retain it. JOHNSON.
"Sir, to leave things out of a book, merely because people tell you they will not be believed, is meanness. Macaulay acted with more magnanimity."
We talked of the Roman Catholick religion, and how little difference there was in essential matters between ours and it. JOHNSON.
"True, Sir: all denominations of Christians have really little difference in point of doctrine, though they may differ widely in external forms. There is a prodigious difference between the external form of one of your Presbyterian churches in Scotland, and a church in Italy; yet the doctrine taught is essentially the same."
I mentioned the petition to Parliament for removing the subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles. JOHNSON.
"It was soon thrown out. Sir, they talk of not making boys at the University subscribe to what they do not understand; but they ought to consider, that our Universities were founded to bring up members for the Church of England, and we must not supply our enemies with arms from our arsenal. No, Sir, the meaning of subscribing is, not that they fully understand all the articles, but that they will adhere to the Church of England. Now take it in this way, and suppose that they should only subscribe their adherence to the Church of England, there would be still the same difficulty; for still the young men would be subscribing to what they do not understand. For if you should ask them, what do you mean by the Church of England? Do you know in what it differs from the Presbyterian Church? from the Romish Church? from the Greek Church? from the Coptick Church? they could not tell you. So, Sir, it comes to the same thing."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, would it not be sufficient to subscribe the Bible?"
JOHNSON.
"Why no, Sir; for all sects will subscribe the Bible; nay, the Mahometans will subscribe the Bible, for the Mahometans acknowledge JESUS CHRIST, as well as Moses, but maintain that GOD sent Mahomet as a still greater prophet than either."
I mentioned the motion to abolish the fast of the 30th of January. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I could have wished that it had been a temporary act, perhaps, to have expired with the century. I am against abolishing it; because that would be declaring it was wrong to establish it; but I should have no objection to make an act, continuing it for another century, and then letting it expire."
He disapproved of the Royal Marriage Bill;
"Because (said he,) I would not have the people think that the validity of marriage depends on the will of man, or that the right of a King depends on the will of man. I should not have been against making the marriage of any of the royal family, without the approbation of King and Parliament, highly criminal."
In the morning we had talked of old families, and the respect due to them. JOHNSON.
"Sir, you have a right to that kind of respect, and are arguing for yourself. I am for supporting the principle, and am disinterested in doing it, as I have no such right."
BOSWELL.
"Why, Sir, it is one more incitement to a man to do well."
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir, and it is a matter of opinion, very necessary to keep society together. What is it but opinion, by which we have a respect for authority, that prevents us, who are the rabble, from rising up and pulling down you who are gentlemen from your places, and saying, 'We will be gentlemen in our turn?' Now, Sir, that respect for authority is much more easily granted to a man whose father has had it, than to an upstart, and so Society is more easily supported."
BOSWELL.
"Perhaps, Sir, it might be done by the respect belonging to office, as among the Romans, where the dress, the
toga,
inspired reverence."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, we know very little about the Romans. But, surely, it is much easier to respect a man who has always had respect, than to respect a man who we know was last year no better than ourselves, and will be no better next year. In republicks there is not a respect for authority, but a fear of power."
BOSWELL.
"At present, Sir, I think riches seem to gain most respect."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir, riches do not gain hearty respect; they only procure external attention. A very rich man, from low beginnings, may buy his election in a borough; but,
caeteris paribus,
a man of family will be preferred. People will prefer a man for whose father their fathers have voted, though they should get no more money, or even less. That shews that the respect for family is not merely fanciful, but has an actual operation. If gentlemen of family would allow the rich upstarts to spend their money profusely, which they are ready enough to do, and not vie with them in expence, the upstarts would soon be at an end, and the gentlemen would remain: but if the gentlemen will vie in expence with the upstarts, which is very foolish, they must be ruined."
I gave him an account of the excellent mimickry of a friend of mine in Scotland; observing, at the same time, that some people thought it a very mean thing. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, it is making a very mean use of a man's powers. But to be a good mimick, requires great powers, great acuteness of observation, great retention of what is observed, and great pliancy of organs, to represent what is observed. I remember a lady of quality in this town, Lady—, who was a wonderful mimick, and used to make me laugh immoderately. I have heard she is now gone mad."
BOSWELL.
"It is amazing how a mimick can not only give you the gestures and voice of a person whom he represents; but even what a person would say on any particular subject."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, you are to consider that the manner and some particular phrases of a person do much to impress you with an idea of him, and you are not sure that he would say what the mimick says in his character."
BOSWELL.
"I don't think Foote a good mimick, Sir."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; his imitations are not like. He gives you something different from himself, but not the character which he means to assume. He goes out of himself without going into other people. He cannot take off any person unless he is very strongly marked, such as George Faulkner. He is like a painter, who can draw the portrait of a man who has a wen upon his face, and who, therefore, is easily known. If a man hops upon one leg, Foote can hop upon one leg. But he has not that nice discrimination which your friend seems to posses. Foote is, however, very entertaining, with a kind of conversation between wit and buffoonery."
On Monday, March 23, I found him busy, preparing a fourth edition of his folio Dictionary. Mr. Peyton, one of his original amanuenses, was writing for him. I put him in mind of a meaning of the word
side,
which he had omitted, viz. relationship; as, father's side, mother's side. He inserted it. I asked him if
humiliating
was a good word. He said, he had seen it frequently used, but he did not know it to be legitimate English. He would not admit
civilization,
but only
civility.
With great deference to him, I thought
civilization,
from
to civilize,
better in the sense opposed to
barbarity,
than
civility,
as it is better to have a distinct word for each sense, than one word with two senses, which
civility
is, in his way of using it.
He seemed busy about some sort of chymical operation. I was entertained by observing how he contrived to send Mr. Peyton on an errand, without seeming to degrade him.
"Mr. Peyton,—Mr. Peyton,—will you be so good as to take a walk to Temple-bar? You will there see a chymist's shop; at which you will be pleased to buy for me an ounce of oil of vitriol; not spirit of vitriol, but oil of vitriol. It will cost three half-pence."
Peyton immediately went, and returned with it, and told him it cost but a penny.
I then reminded him of the schoolmaster's cause, and proposed to read to him the printed papers concerning it.
"No, Sir, (said he,) I can read quicker than I can hear."
So he read them to himself.
After he had read for some time, we were interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Kristrom, a Swede, who was tutor to some young gentlemen in the city. He told me, that there was a very good History of Sweden, by Daline. Having at that time an intention of writing the history of that country, I asked Dr. Johnson whether one might write a history of Sweden without going thither.
"Yes, Sir, (said he,) one for common use."
We talked of languages. Johnson observed, that Leibnitz had made some progress in a work, tracing all languages up to the Hebrew.
"Why, Sir, (said he,) you would not imagine that the French
jour,
day, is derived from the Latin
dies,
and yet nothing is more certain; and the intermediate steps are very clear. From
dies,
comes
diurnus. Diu
is, by inaccurate cars or inaccurate pronunciation, easily confounded with
giu;
then the Italians form a substantive of the ablative of an adjective, and thence
giurno,
or, as they make it,
giorno;
which is readily contracted into
giour,
or
jour."
He observed, that the Bohemian language was true Sclavonick. The Swede said, it had some similarity with the German. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, to be sure, such parts of Sclavonia as confine with Germany, will borrow German words; and such parts as confine with Tartary, will borrow Tartar words."
He said, he never had it properly ascertained that the Scotch Highlanders and the Irish understood each other. I told him that my cousin Colonel Graham, of the Royal Highlanders, whom I met at Drogheda, told me they did. JOHNSON.
"Sir, if the Highlanders understood Irish, why translate the New Testament into Erse, as was done lately at Edinburgh, when there is an Irish translation?"
BOSWELL.
"Although the Erse and Irish are both dialects of the same language, there may be a good deal of diversity between them, as between the different dialects in Italy.
—The Swede went away, and Mr. Johnson continued his reading of the papers. I said,
"I am afraid, Sir, it is troublesome to you."
"Why, Sir, (said he,) I do not take much delight in it; but I'll go through it."
We went to the Mitre, and dined in the room where he and I first supped together. He gave me great hopes of my cause.
"Sir, (said he,) the government of a schoolmaster is somewhat of the nature of military government; that is to say, it must be arbitrary, it must be exercised by the will of one man, according to particular circumstances. You must shew some learning upon this occasion. You must shew, that a schoolmaster has a prescriptive right to beat; and that an action of assault and battery cannot be admitted against him, unless there is some great excess, some barbarity. This man has maimed none of his boys. They are all left with the full exercise of their corporeal faculties. In our schools in England, many boys have been maimed; yet I never heard of an action against a schoolmaster on that account. Puffendorf, I think, maintains the right of a schoolmaster to beat his scholars."
On Saturday, March 27, I introduced to him Sir Alexander Macdonald, with whom he had expressed a wish to be acquainted. He received him very courteously.
Sir Alexander observed, that the Chancellors in England are chosen from views much inferiour to the office, being chosen from temporary political views. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, in such a government as ours, no man is appointed to an office because he is the fittest for it, nor hardly in any other government; because there are so many connections and dependencies to be studied. A despotick prince may choose a man to an office, merely because he is the fittest for it. The King of Prussia may do it."
SIR A.
"I think, Sir, almost all great lawyers, such at least as have written upon law, have known only law, and nothing else."
JOHNSON.
"Why no, Sir; Judge Hale was a great lawyer, and wrote upon law; and yet he knew a great many other things, and has written upon other things. Selden too."
SIR A.
"Very true, Sir; and Lord Bacon. But was not Lord Coke a mere lawyer?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, I am afraid he was; but he would have taken it very ill if you had told him so. He would have prosecuted you for scandal."
BOSWELL.
"Lord Mansfield is not a mere lawyer."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir. I never was in Lord Mansfield's company; but, Lord Mansfield was distinguished at the University. Lord Mansfield, when he came first to town, 'drank champagne with the wits,' as Prior says. He was the friend of Pope."
SIR. A.
"Barristers, I believe, are not so abusive now as they were formerly. I fancy they had less law long ago, and so were obliged to take to abuse, to fill up the time. Now they have such a number of precedents, they have no occasion for abuse."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, they had more law long ago than they have now. As to precedents, to be sure they will increase in course of time; but the more precedents there are, the less occasion is there for law; that is to say, the less occasion is there for investigating principles."
SIR A.
"I have been correcting several Scotch accents in my friend Boswell. I doubt, Sir, if any Scotchman ever attains to a perfect English pronunciation."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, few of them do, because they do not persevere after acquiring a certain degree of it. But, Sir, there can be no doubt that they may attain to a perfect English pronunciation, if they will. We find how near they come to it; and certainly, a man who conquers nineteen parts of the Scottish accent, may conquer the twentieth. But, Sir, when a man has got the better of nine tenths, he grows weary, he relaxes his diligence, he finds he has corrected his accent so far as not to be disagreeable, and he no longer desires his friends to tell him when he is wrong; nor does he choose to be told. Sir, when people watch me narrowly, and I do not watch myself, they will find me out to be of a particular county. In the same manner, Dunning may be found out to be a Devonshire man. So most Scotchmen may be found out. But, Sir, little aberrations are of no disadvantage. I never catched Mallet in a Scotch accent; and yet Mallet, I suppose, was past five-and-twenty before he came to London."
Upon another occasion I talked to him on this subject, having myself taken some pains to improve my pronunciation, by the aid of the late Mr. Love, of Drury-lane theatre, when he was a player at Edinburgh, and also of old Mr. Sheridan. Johnson said to me,
"Sir, your pronunciation is not offensive."
With this concession I was pretty well satisfied; and let me give my countrymen of North-Britain an advice not to aim at absolute perfection in this respect; not to speak
High English,
as we are apt to call what is far removed from the
Scotch,
but which is by no means good English, and makes
"the fools who use it,"
truly ridiculous. Good English is plain, easy, and smooth in the mouth of an unaffected English gentleman. A studied and factitious pronunciation, which requires perpetual attention, and imposes perpetual constraint, is exceedingly disgusting. A small intermixture of provincial peculiarities may, perhaps, have an agreeable effect, as the notes of different birds concur in the harmony of the grove, and please more than if they were all exactly alike. I could name some gentlemen of Ireland, to whom a slight proportion of the accent and recitative of that country is an advantage. The same observation will apply to the gentlemen of Scotland. I do not mean that we should speak as broad as a certain prosperous member of parliament from that country; though it has been well observed, that
"it has been of no small use to him; as it rouses the attention of the House by its uncommonness; and is equal to tropes and figures in a good English speaker."
I would give as an instance of what I mean to recommend to my countrymen, the pronunciation of the late Sir Gilbert Elliot; and may I presume to add that of the present Earl of Marchmont, who told me, with great good humour, that the master of a shop in London, where he was not known, said to him,
"I suppose, Sir, you are an American."
"Why so, Sir,"
(said his Lordship.)
"Because, Sir, (replied the shopkeeper,) you speak neither English nor Scotch, but something different from both, which I conclude is the language of America."
BOSWELL.
"It may be of use, Sir, to have a Dictionary to ascertain the pronunciation."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, my Dictionary shews you the accents of words, if you can but remember them."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, we want marks to ascertain the pronunciation of the vowels. Sheridan, I believe, has finished such a work."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, consider how much easier it is to learn a language by the ear, than by any marks. Sheridan's Dictionary may do very well; but you cannot always carry it about with you: and, when you want the word, you have not the Dictionary. It is like a man who has a sword that will not draw. It is an admirable sword, to be sure: but while your enemy is cutting your throat, you are unable to use it. Besides, Sir, what entitles Sheridan to fix the pronunciation of English? He has, in the first place, the disadvantage of being an Irishman: and if he says he will fix it after the example of the best company, why they differ among themselves. I remember an instance: when I published the Plan for my Dictionary, Lord Chesterfield told me that the word
great
should be pronounced so as to rhyme to
state;
and Sir William Young sent me word that it should be pronounced so as to rhyme to
seat,
and that none but an Irishman would pronounce it
grait.
Now here were two men of the highest rank, the one, the best speaker in the House of Lords, the other, the best speaker in the House of Commons, differing entirely."
I again visited him at night. Finding him in a very good humour, I ventured to lead him to the subject of our situation in a future state, having much curiosity to know his notions on that point. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, the happiness of an unembodied spirit will consist in a consciousness of the favour of GOD, in the contemplation of truth, and in the possession of felicitating ideas."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, is there any harm in our forming to ourselves conjectures as to the particulars of our happiness, though the scripture has said but very little on the subject? 'We know not what we shall be."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, there is no harm. What philosophy suggests to us on this topick is probable: what scripture tells us is certain. Dr. Henry More has carried it as far as philosophy can. You may buy both his theological and philosophical works in two volumes folio, for about eight shillings."
BOSWELL.
"One of the most pleasing thoughts is, that we shall see our friends again."
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir; but you must consider, that when we are become purely rational, many of our friendships will be cut off. Many friendships are formed by a community of sensual pleasures: all these will be cut off. We form many friendships with bad men, because they have agreeable qualities, and they can be useful to us; but, after death, they can no longer be of use to us. We form many friendships by mistake, imagining people to be different from what they really are. After death, we shall see every one in a true light. Then, Sir, they talk of our meeting our relations: but then all relationship is dissolved; and we shall have no regard for one person more than another, but for their real value. However, we shall either have the satisfaction of meeting our friends, or be satisfied without meeting them."
BOSWELL.
"Yet, Sir, we see in scripture that Dives still retained an anxious concern about his brethren."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, we must either suppose that passage to be metaphorical, or hold with many divines, and all the Purgatorians, that departed souls do not all at once arrive at the utmost perfection of which they are capable."
BOSWELL.
"I think, Sir, that is a very rational supposition."
JOHNSON.
"Why yes, Sir; but we do not know it is a true one. There is no harm in believing it: but you must not compel others to make it an article of faith, for it is not revealed."
BOSWELL.
"Do you think, Sir, it is wrong in a man who holds the doctrine of purgatory, to pray for the souls of his deceased friends?"
JOHNSON.
"Why no, Sir."
BOSWELL.
"I have been told, that in the liturgy of the Episcopal Church of Scotland, there was a form of prayer for the dead."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, it is not in the liturgy which Laud framed for the Episcopal Church of Scotland: if there is a liturgy older than that, I should be glad to see it."
BOSWELL.
"As to our employment in a future state, the sacred writings say little. The Revelation, however, of St. John gives us many ideas, and particularly mentions musick."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, ideas must be given you by means of something which you know: and as to musick, there are some philosophers and divines who have maintained that we shall not be spiritualised to such a degree, but that something of matter, very much refined, will remain. In that case, musick may make a part of our future felicity."
BOSWELL.
"I do not know whether there are any well-attested stories of the appearance of ghosts. You know there is a famous story of the appearance of Mrs. Veal, prefixed to 'Drelincourt on Death."
JOHNSON.
"I believe, Sir, that is given up. I believe the woman declared upon her death-bed that it was a lie."
BOSWELL.
"This objection is made against the truth of ghosts appearing: that if they are in a state of happiness, it would be a punishment to them to return to this world; and if they are in a state of misery, it would be giving them a respite."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, as the happiness or misery of unembodied spirits does not depend upon place, but is intellectual, we cannot say that they are less happy or less miserable by appearing upon earth."
We went down between twelve and one to Mrs. William's room, and drank tea. I mentioned that we were to have the remains of Mr. Gray, in prose and verse, published by Mr. Mason. JOHNSON.
"I think we have had enough of Gray. I see they have published a splendid edition of Akenside's works. One bad Ode may be suffered, but a number of them together makes one sick."
BOSWELL.
"Akenside's distinguished poem is his 'Pleasures of the Imagination:' but, for my part, I never could admire it so much as most people do."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, I could not read it through."
BOSWELL.
"I have read it through; but I did not find any great power in it."
I mentioned Elwal, the heretick, whose trial Sir John Pringle had given me to read. JOHNSON.
"Sir, Mr. Elwal was, I think, an ironmonger at Wolverhampton; and he had a mind to make himself famous, by being the founder of a new sect, which he wished much should be called
Elwallians.
He held, that every thing in the Old Testament that was not typical, was to be of perpetual observance; and so he wore a ribband in the plaits of his coat, and he also wore a beard. I remember I had the honour of dining in company with Mr. Elwal. There was one Barter, a miller, who wrote against him; and so you had 'The Controversy between Mr. ELWAL and Mr. BARTER.' To try to make himself distinguished, he wrote a letter to King George the Second, challenging him to dispute with him, in which he said, 'George, if you be afraid to come by yourself, to dispute with a poor old man, you may bring a thousand of your
black
-guards with you; and if you should still be afraid, you may bring a thousand of your
red
-guards.' The letter had something of the impudence of Junius to our present King. But the men of Wolverhampton were not so inflammable as the Common Council of London; so Mr. Elwal failed in his scheme of making himself a man of great consequence."
On Tuesday, March 31, he and I dined at General Paoli's. A question was started, whether the state of marriage was natural to man. JOHNSON.
"Sir, it is so far from being natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage, that we find all the motives which they have for remaining in that connection, and the restraints which civilised society imposes to prevent separation, are hardly sufficient to keep them together."
The General said, that in a state of nature a man and woman uniting together would form a strong and constant affection, by the mutual pleasure each would receive; and that the same causes of dissention would not arise between them, as occur between husband and wife in a civilised state. JOHNSON.
"Sir, they would have dissentions enough, though of another kind. One would choose to go a hunting in this wood, the other in that; one would choose to go a fishing in this lake, the other in that; or, perhaps, one would choose to go a hunting, when the other would choose to go a fishing; and so they would part. Besides, Sir, a savage man and a savage woman meet by chance; and when the man sees another woman that pleases him better, he will leave the first."
We then fell into a disquisition whether there is any beauty independent of utility. The General maintained there was not. Dr. Johnson maintained that there was; and he instanced a coffee-cup which he held in his hand, the painting of which was of no real use, as the cup would hold the coffee equally well if plain; yet the painting was beautiful.
We talked of the strange custom of swearing in conversation. The Genera said, that all barbarous nations swore from a certain violence of temper, that could not be confined to earth, but was always reaching at the powers above. He said, too, that there was greater variety of swearing, in proportion as there was a greater variety of religious ceremonies.
Dr. Johnson went home with me to my lodgings in Conduit-street and drank tea, previous to our going to the Pantheon, which neither of us had seen before.
He said,
"Goldsmith's Life of Parnell is poor; not that it is poorly written, but that he had poor materials: for nobody can write the life of a man, but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him."
I said, that if it was not troublesome and presuming too much, I would request him to tell me all the little circumstances of his life; what schools he attended, when he came to Oxford, when he came to London, &c. &c. He did not disapprove of my curiosity as to these particulars; but said,
"They'll come out by degrees as we talk together."
He censured Ruffhead's Life of Pope; and said,
"he knew nothing of Pope, and nothing of poetry."
He praised Dr. Joseph Warton's Essay on Pope; but said, he supposed we should have no more of it, as the authour had not been able to persuade the world to think of Pope as he did. BOSWELL.
"Why, Sir, should that prevent him from continuing his work? He is an ingenious Counsel, who has made the most of his cause: he is not obliged to gain it."
JOHNSON.
"But, Sir, there is a difference when the cause is of a man's own making."
We talked of the proper use of riches. JOHNSON.
"If I were a man of a great estate, I would drive all the rascals whom I did not like out of the county at an election."
I asked him how far he thought wealth should be employed in hospitality. JOHNSON.
"You are to consider that ancient hospitality, of which we hear so much, was in an uncommercial country, when men being idle, were glad to be entertained at rich men's tables. But in a commercial country, a busy country, time becomes precious, and therefore hospitality is not so much valued. No doubt there is still room for a certain degree of it; and a man has a satisfaction in seeing his friends eating and drinking around him. But promiscuous hospitality is not the way to gain real influence. You must help some people at table before others; you must ask some people how they like their wine oftener than others. You therefore offend more people than you please. You are like the French statesman, who said, when he granted a favour,
'J'at fait dix mécontens et un ingrat.'
Besides, Sir, being entertained ever so well at a man's table, impresses no lasting regard or esteem. No, Sir, the way to make sure of power and influence is, by lending money confidentially to your neighbours at a small interest, or, perhaps, at no interest at all, and having their bonds in your possession."
BOSWELL.
"May not a man, Sir, employ his riches to advantage in educating young men of merit?"
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir, if they fall in your way; but if it is understood that you patronise young men of merit, you will be harrassed with solicitations. You will have numbers forced upon you who have no merit; some will force them upon you from mistaken partiality; and some from downright interested motives, without scruple; and you will be disgraced.
"Were I a rich man, I would propagate all kinds of trees that will grow in the open air. A green-house is childish. I would introduce foreign animals into the country; for instance, the rein-deer
This project has since been realised. Sir Henry Liddel, who made a spirited tour into Lapland, brought two rein-deer to his estate in Northumberland, where they bred; but the race has unfortunately perished.
."
The conversation now turned on critical subjects. JOHNSON.
"Bayes, in 'The Rehearsal,' is a mighty silly character. If it was intended to be like a particular man, it could only be diverting while that man was remembered. But I question whether it was meant for Dryden, as has been reported; for we know some of the passages said to be ridiculed, were written since the Rehearsal; at least a passage mentioned in the Preface is of a later date."
I maintained that it had merit as a general satire on the self-importance of dramatick authours. But even in this light he held it very cheap.
We then walked to the Pantheon. The first view of it did not strike us so much as Ranelagh, of which he said, the
coup d'oeil
was the finest thing he had ever seen. The truth is, Ranelagh is of a more beautiful form; more of it, or rather indeed the whole
rotunda,
appears at once, and it is better lighted. However, as Johnson observed, we saw the Pantheon in time of mourning, when there was a dull uniformity; whereas we had seen Ranelagh when the view was enlivened with a gay profusion of colours. Mrs. Bosville, of Gunthwait, in Yorkshire, joined us, and entered into conversation with us. Johnson said to me afterwards,
"Sir, this is a mighty intelligent lady."
I said there was not half a guinea's worth of pleasure in seeing this place. JOHNSON.
"But, Sir, there is half a guinea's worth of inferiority to other people in not having seen it."
BOSWELL.
"I doubt, Sir, whether there are many happy people here."
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir, there are many happy people here. There are many people here who are watching hundreds, and who think hundreds are watching them."
Happening to meet Sir Adam Fergusson, I presented him to Dr. Johnson. Sir Adam expressed some apprehension that the Pantheon would encourage luxury.
"Sir, (said Johnson,) I am a great friend to publick amusements; for they keep people from vice. You now (addressing himself to me,) would have been with a wench, had you not been here. O! I forgot you were married."
Sir Adam suggested, that luxury corrupts a people, and destroys the spirit of liberty. JOHNSON.
"Sir, that is all visionary. I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual. Sir, the danger of the abuse of power is nothing to a private man. What Frenchman is prevented from passing his life as he pleases?"
SIR ADAM.
"But, Sir, in the British constitution it is surely of importance to keep up a spirit in the people, so as to preserve a balance against the crown."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, I perceive you are a vile Whig.—Why all this childish jealousy of the power of the crown? The crown has not power enough. When I say that all governments are alike, I consider that in no government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it. If a sovereign oppresses his people to a great degree, they will rise and cut off his head. There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that will keep us safe under every form of government. Had not the people of France thought themselves honoured as sharing in the brilliant actions of the reign of Lewis XIV. they would not have endured him; and we may say the same of the King of Prussia's people."
Sir Adam introduced the ancient Greeks and Romans. JOHNSON.
"Sir, the mass of both of them were barbarians. The mass of every people must be barbarous where there is no printing, and consequently knowledge is not generally diffused. Knowledge is diffused among our people by the newspapers."
Sir Adam mentioned the orators, poets, and artists of Greece. JOHNSON.
"Sir, I am talking of the mass of the people. We see even what the boasted Athenians were. The little effect which Demosthenes's orations had upon them, shews that they were barbarians."
Sir Adam was unlucky in his topicks; for he suggested a doubt of the propriety of Bishops having seats in the House of Lords. JOHNSON.
"How so, Sir? Who is more proper for having the dignity of a peer, than a Bishop, provided a Bishop be what he ought to be; and if improper Bishops be made, that is not the fault of the Bishops, but of those who make them."
On Sunday, April 5, after attending divine service at St. Paul's church, I found him alone. Of a schoolmaster of his acquaintance, a native of Scotland, he said,
"He has a great deal of good about him; but he is also very defective in some respects. His inner part is good, but his outer part is mighty aukward. You in Scotland do not attain that nice critical skill in languages, which we get in our schools in England. I would not put a boy to him, whom I intended for a man of learning. But for the sons of citizens, who are to learn a little, get good morals, and then go to trade, he may do very well."
I mentioned a cause in which I had appeared as counsel at the bar of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, where a
Probationer,
(as one licensed to preach, but not yet ordained, is called,) was opposed in his application to be inducted, because it was alledged that he had been guilty of fornication five years before. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, if he has repented, it is not a sufficient objection. A man who is good enough to go to heaven, is good enough to be a clergyman."
This was a humane and liberal sentiment. But the character of a clergyman is more sacred than that of an ordinary Christian. As he is to instruct with authority, he should be regarded with reverence, as one upon whom divine truth has had the effect to set him above such transgressions, as men less exalted by spiritual habits, and yet upon the whole not to be excluded from heaven, have been betrayed into by the predominance of passion. That clergymen may be considered as sinners in general, as all men are, cannot be denied; but this reflection will not counteract their good precepts so much, as the absolute knowledge of their having been guilty of certain specifick immoral acts. I told him, that by the rules of the Church of Scotland, in their
"Book of Discipline,"
if a
scandal,
as it is called, is not prosecuted for five years, it cannot afterwards be proceeded upon,
"unless it be
of a heinous nature,
or again become flagrant;"
and that hence a question arose, whether fornication was a sin of a heinous nature; and that I had maintained, that it did not deserve that epithet, in as much as it was not one of those sins which argue very great depravity of heart: in short, was not, in the general acceptation of mankind, a heinous sin. JOHNSON.
"No, Sir, it is not a heinous sin. A heinous sin is that for which a man is punished with death or banishment."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, after I had argued that it was not a heinous sin, an old clergyman rose up, and repeating the text of scripture denouncing judgement against whoremongers, asked, whether, considering this, there could be any doubt of fornication being a heinous sin.
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, observe the word
whoremonger.
Every sin, if persisted in, will become heinous. Whoremonger is a dealer in whores, as ironmonger is a dealer in iron. But as you don't call a man an ironmonger for buying and selling a pen-knife; so you don't call a man a whoremonger for getting one wench with child."
I spoke of the inequality of the livings of the clergy in England, and the scanty provisions of some of the Curates. JOHNSON.
"Why, yes, Sir; but it cannot be helped. You must consider, that the revenues of the clergy are not at the disposal of the state, like the pay of the army. Different men have founded different churches; and some are better endowed, some worse. The State cannot interfere and make an equal division of what has been particularly appropriated. Now when a clergyman has but a small living, or even two small livings, he can afford very little to a Curate."
He said, he went more frequently to church when there were prayers only, than when there was also a sermon, as the people required more an example for the one than the other; it being much easier for them to hear a sermon, than to fix their minds on prayer.
On Monday, April 6, I dined with him at Sir Alexander Macdonald's, where was a young officer in the regimentals of the Scots Royal, who talked with a vivacity, fluency, and precision so uncommon, that he attracted particular attention. He proved to be the Honourable Thomas Erskine, youngest brother to the Earl of Buchan, who has since risen into such brilliant reputation at the bar in Westminster-hall.
Fielding being mentioned, Johnson exclaimed,
"he was a blockhead;"
and upon my expressing my astonishment at so strange an assertion, he said,
"What I mean by his being a blockhead is, that he was a barren rascal."
BOSWELL.
"Will you not allow, Sir, that he draws very natural pictures of human life?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, it is of very low life. Richardson used to say, that had he not known who Fielding was, he should have believed he was an ostler. Sir, there is more knowledge of the heart in one letter of Richardson's, than in all 'Tom Jones.' I, indeed, never read 'Joseph Andrews."
ERSKINE.
"Surely, Sir, Richardson is very tedious."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, if you were to read Richardson for the story, your impatience would be so much fretted, that you would hang yourself. But you must read him for the sentiment, and consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment."
—I have already given my opinion of Fielding; but I cannot refrain from repeating here my wonder at Johnson's excessive and unaccountable depreciation of one of the best writers that England has produced.
"Tom Jones"
has stood the test of publick opinion with such success, as to have established its great merit, both for the story, the sentiments, and the manners, and also the varieties of diction, so as to leave no doubt of its having an animated truth of execution throughout.
A book of travels, lately published under the title of
Coriat Junior,
and written by Mr. Paterson, the auctioneer, was mentioned. Johnson said, this book was an imitation of Sterne, and not of Coriat, whose name Paterson had chosen as a whimsical one.
"Tom Coriat, (said he,) was a humourist about the court of James the First. He had a mixture of learning, of wit, and of buffoonery. He first travelled through Europe, and published his travels. He afterwards travelled on foot through Asia, and had made many remarks; but he died at Mandoa, and his remarks were lost."
We talked of gaming, and animadverted on it with severity. JOHNSON.
"Nay, gentlemen, let us not aggravate the matter. It is not roguery to play with a man who is ignorant of the game, while you are master of it, and so win his money; for he thinks he can play better than you, as you think you can play better than he; and the superiour skill carries it."
ERSKINE.
"He is a fool, but you are not a rogue."
JOHNSON.
"That's much about the truth, Sir. It must be considered, that a man who only does what every one of the society to which he belongs would do, is not a dishonest man. In the republick of Sparta it was agreed, that stealing was not dishonourable, if not discovered. I do not commend a society where there is an agreement that what would not otherwise be fair, shall be fair; but I maintain, that an individual of any society, who practises what is allowed, is not a dishonest man."
BOSWELL.
"So then, Sir, you do not think ill of a man who wins perhaps forty thousand pounds in a winter?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, I do not call a gamester a dishonest man; but I call him an unsocial man, an unprofitable man. Gaming is a mode of transferring property without producing any intermediate good. Trade gives employment to numbers, and so produces intermediate good."
Mr. Erskine told us, that when he was in the island of Minorca, he not only read prayers, but preached two sermons to the regiment. He seemed to object to the passage in scripture where we are told that the angel of the Lord smote in one night forty thousand Assyrians.
"Sir, (said Johnson,) you should recollect that there was a supernatural interposition; they were destroyed by pestilence. You are not to suppose that the angel of the Lord went about and stabbed each of them with a dagger, or knocked them on the head, man by man▪ "
After Mr. Erskine was gone, a discussion took place, whether the present Earl of Buchan, when Lord Cardross, did right to refuse to go Secretary of the Embassy to Spain, when Sir James Gray, a man of inferiour rank, went Ambassadour. Dr. Johnson said, that perhaps in point of interest he did wrong; but in point of dignity he did well. Sir Alexander insisted that he was wrong, and said that Mr. Pitt intended it as an advantageous thing for him.
"Why, Sir, (said Johnson,) Mr. Pitt might think it an advantageous thing for him to make him a vintner, and get him all the Portugal trade; but he would have demeaned himself strangely had he accepted of such a situation. Sir, had he gone Secretary while his inferiour was Ambassadour, he would have been a traitor to his rank and family."
I talked of the little attachment which subsisted between near relations in London.
"Sir, (said Johnson,) in a country so commercial as ours, where every man can do for himself, there is not so much occasion for that attachment. No man is thought the worse of here, whose brother was hanged. In uncommercial countries, many of the branches of a family must depend on the stock; so, in order to make the head of the family take care of them, they are represented as connected with his reputation, that, self-love being interested, he may exert himself to promote their interest. You have first large circles, or clans; as commerce increases, the connection is confined to families. By degrees, that too goes off, as having become unnecessary, and there being few opportunities of intercourse. One brother is a merchant in the city, and another is an officer in the guards. How little intercourse can these two have!"
I argued warmly for the old seudal system. Sir Alexander opposed it, and talked of the pleasure of seeing all men free and independent. JOHNSON.
"I agree with Mr. Boswell that there must be a high satisfaction in being a feudal Lord; but we are to consider, that we ought not to wish to have a number of men unhappy for the satisfaction of one."
—I maintained that numbers, namely, the vassals or followers, were not unhappy, for that there was a reciprocal satisfaction between the Lord and them: he being kind in his authority over them; they being respectful and faithful to him.
On Thursday, April 9, I called on him to beg he would go and dine with me at the Mitre tavern. He had resolved not to dine at all this day, I know not for what reason; and I was so unwilling to be deprived of his company, that I was content to submit to suffer a want, which was at first somewhat painful, but he soon made me forget it; and a man is always pleased with himself when he finds his intellectual inclinations predominate.
He observed, that to reason too philosophically on the nature of prayer, was very unprofitable.
Talking of ghosts, he said, he knew one friend, who was an honest man and a sensible man, who told him he had seen a ghost, old Mr. Edward Cave, the printer at St. John's Gate. He said, Mr. Cave did not like to talk of it, but seemed to be in great horrour whenever it was mentioned. BOSWELL.
"Pray, Sir, what did he say was the appearance?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, something of a shadowy being."
I mentioned witches, and asked him what they properly meant. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, they properly mean those who make use of the aid of evil spirits."
BOSWELL.
"There is no doubt, Sir, a general report and belief of their having existed,"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, you have not only the general report and belief, but you have many voluntary solemn confessions."
He did not affirm any thing positively upon a subject which it is the fashion of the times to laugh at as a matter of absurd credulity. He only seemed willing, as a candid enquirer after truth, however strange and inexplicable, to shew that he understood what might be urged for it
See this curious question treated by him with most acute ability,
"Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,"
3d edit. p. 33.
.
On Friday, April 10, I dined with him at General Oglethorpe's, where we found Dr. Goldsmith.
Armorial bearings having been mentioned, Johnson said, they were as ancient as the siege of Thebes, which he proved by a passage in one of the tragedies of Euripides.
I started the question whether duelling was consistent with moral duty. The brave old General fired at this, and said, with a lofty air,
"Undoubtedly a man has a right to defend his honour."
GOLDSMITH, (turning to me.)
"I ask you first, Sir, what you would do if you were affronted?"
I answered I should think it necessary to fight.
"Why then (replied Goldsmith,) that solves the question."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir, it does not solve the question. It does not follow that what a man would do is therefore right."
I said, I wished to have it settled, whether duelling was contrary to the laws of Christianity. Johnson immediately entered on the subject, and treated it in a masterly manner; and so far as I have been able to recollect, his thoughts were these:
"Sir, as men become in a high degree refined, various causes of offence arise; which are considered to be of such importance, that life must be staked to atone for them, though in reality they are not so. A body that has received a very fine polish may be easily hurt. Before men arrive at this artificial refinement, if one tells his neighbour he lies, his neighbour tells him he lies; if one gives his neighbour a blow, his neighbour gives him a blow: but in a state of highly polished society, an affront is held to be a serious injury. It must, therefore, be resented, or rather a duel▪ must be fought upon it; as men have agreed to banish from their society one who puts up with an affront without fighting a duel. Now, Sir, it is never unlawful to fight in self-defence. He, then, who fights a duel, does not fight from passion against his antagonist, but out of self-defence; to avert the stigma of the world, and to prevent himself from being driven out of society. I could wish that there was not that superfluity of refinement; but while such notions prevail, no doubt a man may lawfully fight a duel."
Let it be remembered, that this justification is applicable only to the person who
receives
an affront. All mankind must condemn the aggressor.
The General told us, that when he was a very young man, I think only fifteen, serving under Prince Eugene of Savoy, he was sitting in a company at table with a Prince of Wirtemberg. The Prince took up a glass of wine, and, by a fillip, made some of it fly in Oglethorpe's face. Here was a nice dilemma. To have challenged him instantly, might have fixed a quarrelsome character upon the young soldier: to have taken no notice of it might have been considered as cowardice. Oglethorpe, therefore, keeping his eye upon the Prince, and smiling all the time, as if he took what his Highness had done in jest, said,
"Mon Prince,
—"
(I forget the French words he used, the purport however was,)
"That's a good joke; but we do it much better in England;"
and threw a whole glass of wine in the Prince's face. An old General who sat by, said,
"I'l a bien fait, mon Prince, vous l'avez commencé;"
and thus all ended in good humour.
Dr. Johnson said,
"Pray, General, give us an account of the siege of Bender."
Upon which the General, pouring a little wine upon the table, described every thing with a wet finger:
"Here were we, here were the Turks,"
&c. &c. Johnson listened with the closest attention.
A question was started, how far people who disagree in any capital point can live in friendship together. Johnson said they might. Goldsmith said they could not, as they had not the
idem velle atque idem nolle
—the same likings and the same aversions. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, you must shun the subject as to which you disagree. For instance, I can live very well with Burke: I love his knowledge, his genius, his diffusion, and affluence of conversation; but I would not talk to him of the Rockingham party."
GOLDSMITH.
"But, Sir, when people live together who have something as to which they disagree, and which they want to shun, they will be in the situation mentioned in the story of Bluebeard; 'You may look into all the chambers but one.' But we should have the greatest inclination to look into that chamber, to talk of that subject."
JOHNSON, (with a loud voice.)
"Sir, I am not saying that
you
could live in friendship with a man from whom you differ as to some point: I am only saying that
I
could do it. You put me in mind of Sappho in Ovid."
Goldsmith told us, that he was now busy in writing a natural history, and, that he might have full leisure for it, he had taken lodgings at a farmer's house, near to the six mile-stone, on the Edgeware-road, and had carried down his books in two returned post-chaises. He said, he believed the farmer's family thought him an odd character, similar to that in which the
Spectator
appeared to his landlady and children: he was
The Gentleman.
Mr. Mickle, the translator of
"The Lusiad,"
and I, went to visit him at this place a few days afterwards. He was not at home; but having a curiosity to see his apartment, we went in and found curious scraps of descriptions of animals, scrawled upon the walls with a black lead pencil.
The subject of ghosts having been introduced, Johnson repeated what he had told me of a friend of his, an honest man and a man of sense, having asserted to him that he had seen an apparition. Goldsmith told us, he was assured by his brother, the Reverend Mr. Goldsmith, that he also had seen one. General Oglethorpe told us, that Pendergrast, an officer in the Duke of Marlborough's army, had mentioned to many of his friends that he should die on a particular day. That upon that day a battle took place with the French; that after it was over, and Pendergrast was still alive, his brother officers, while they were yet in the field, jestingly asked him where was his prophecy now. Pendergrast gravely answered,
"I shall die, notwithstanding what you see."
Soon afterwards there came a shot from a French battery, to which the orders for a cessation of arms had not yet reached, and he was killed upon the spot. Colonel Cecil, who took possession of his effects, found in his pocketbook the following solemn entry:
[Here the date.]
"Dreamt—or—
Here was a blank, which may be silled up thus:—
"was told by an apparition;"
—the writer being probably uncertain whether he was asleep or awake when his mind was impressed with the solemn presentiment with which the fact afterwards happened so wonderfully to correspond.
Sir John Friend meets me:"
(here the very day on which he was killed was mentioned.) Pendergrast had been a witness against Sir John Friend, who was executed for high treason. General Oglethorpe said, he was in company with Colonel Cecil when Pope came and enquired into the truth of this story, which made a great noise at the time, and was then confirmed by the Colonel.
On Saturday, April 11, he appointed me to come to him in the evening, when he said he should be at leisure to give me some assistance for the defence of Hastie, the schoolmaster of Campbelltown, for whom I was to appear in the House of Lords. When I came, I found him unwilling to exert himself. I pressed him to write down his thoughts upon the subject. He said,
"There's no occasion for my writing. I'll talk to you."
He was, however, at last prevailed on to dictate to me, while I wrote as follows:
"The charge is, that he has used immoderate and cruel correction. Correction, in itself, is not cruel; children, being not reasonable, can be governed only by fear. To impress this fear, is therefore one of the first duties of those who have the care of children. It is the duty of a parent; and has never been thought inconsistent with parental tenderness. It is the duty of a master, who is in his highest exaltation when he is
loco parentis.
Yet, as good things become evil by excess, correction, by being immoderate, may become cruel. But when is correction immoderate? When it is more frequent or more severe than is required
ad monendum et docendum,
for reformation and instruction. No severity is cruel which obstinacy makes necessary; for the greatest cruelty would be to desist, and leave the scholar too careless for instruction, and too much hardened for reproof. Locke, in his treatise of Education, mentions a mother, with applause, who whipped an infant eight times before she had subdued it; for had she stopped at the seventh act of correction, her daughter, says he, would have been ruined. The degrees of obstinacy in young minds are very different; as different must be the degrees of persevering severity. A stubborn scholar must be corrected till he is subdued. The discipline of a school is military. There must be either unbounded licence or absolute authority. The master who punishes, not only consults the future happiness of him who is the immediate subject of correction; but he propagates obedience through the whole school, and establishes regularity by exemplary justice. The victorious obstinacy of a single boy would make his future endeavours of reformation or instruction totally ineffectual. Obstinacy, therefore, must never be victorious. Yet, it is well known, that there sometimes occurs a fullen and hardy resolution, that laughs at all common punishment, and bids defiance to all common degrees of pain. Correction must be proportioned to occasions. The flexible will be reformed by gentle discipline, and the refractory must be subdued by harsher methods. The degrees of scholastick, as of military punishment, no stated rules can ascertain. It must be enforced till it overpowers temptation; till stubbornness becomes slexible, and perverseness regular. Custom and reason have, indeed, set some bounds to scholastick penalties. The schoolmaster inflicts no capital punishments; nor enforces his edicts by either death or mutilation. The civil law has wisely determined, that a master who strikes at a scholar's eye shall be considered as criminal. But punishments, however severe, that produce no lasting evil, may be just and reasonable, because they may be necessary. Such have been the punishments used by the respondent. No scholar has gone from him either blind or lame, or with any of his limbs or powers injured or impaired. They were irregular, and he punished them: they were obstinate, and he enforced his punishment. But, however provoked, he never exceeded the limits of moderation, for he inflicted nothing beyond present pain; and how much of that was required, no man is so little able to determine as those who have determined against him;—the parents of the offenders.—It has been said, that he used unprecedented and improper instruments of correction. Of this accusation the meaning is not very easy to be found. No instrument of correction is more proper than another, but as it is better adapted to produce present pain without lasting mischief. Whatever were his instruments, no lasting mischief has ensued; and therefore, however unusual, in hands so cautious they were proper.—It has been objected, that the respondent admits the charge of cruelty, by producing no evidence to confute it. Let it be considered, that his scholars are either dispersed at large in the world, or continue to inhabit the place in which they were bred. Those who are dispersed cannot be found: those who remain are the sons of his persecutors, and are not likely to support a man to whom their fathers are enemies. If it be supposed that the enmity of their fathers proves the justice of the charge, it must be considered how often experience shews us, that men who are angry on one ground will accuse on another; with how little kindness, in a town of low trade, a man who lives by learning is regarded; and how implicitly, where the inhabitants are not very rich, a rich man is hearkened to and followed. In a place like Campbelltown it is easy for one of the principal inhabitants to make a party. It is easy for that party to heat themselves with imaginary grievances. It is easy for them to oppress a man poorer than themselves; and natural to assert the dignity of riches, by persisting in oppression. The argument which attempts to prove the impropriety of restoring him to his school, by alledging that he has lost the confidence of the people, is not the subject of juridical consideration; for he is to suffer, if he must suffer, not for their judgement, but for his own actions. It may be convenient for them to have another master; but it is a convenience of their own making. It would be likewise convenient for him to find another school; but this convenience he cannot obtain.—The question is not what is now convenient, but what is generally right. If the people of Campbelltown be distressed by the restoration of the respondent, they are distressed only by their own fault; by turbulent passions and unreasonable desires; by tyranny, which law has defeated, and by malice which virtue has surmounted."
"This, Sir, (said he,) you are to turn in your mind, and make the best use of it you can in your speech."
Of our friend Goldsmith he said,
"Sir, he is so much afraid of being unnoticed, that he often talks merely lest you should forget that he is in the company."
BOSWELL.
"Yes, he stands forward."
JOHNSON.
"True, Sir; but if a man is to stand forward, he should wish to do it not in an aukward posture, not in rags, not so as that he shall only be exposed to ridicule."
BOSWELL.
"For my part, I like very well to hear honest Goldsmith talk away carelessly."
JOHNSON.
"Why yes, Sir; but he should not like to hear himself."
On Tuesday, April 14, the decree of the Court of Session in the school-master's cause was reversed in the House of Lords, after a very eloquent speech by Lord Mansfield, who shewed himself an adept in school discipline, but I thought was too rigorous towards my client. On the evening of the next day I supped with Dr. Johnson, at the Crown and Anchor tavern, in the Strand, in company with Mr. Langton and his brother-in-law, Lord Binning. I repeated a sentence of Lord Mansfield's speech, of which, by the aid of Mr. Longlands, the solicitor on the other side, who obligingly allowed me to compare his note with my own, I have a full copy:
"My Lords, severity is not the way to govern either boys or men."
"Nay, (said Johnson,) it is the way to
govern
them. I know not whether it be the way to
mend
them."
I talked of the recent expulsion of six students from the University of Oxford, who were methodists; and
ould not desist from publickly praying and exhorting. JOHNSON.
"Sir, that expulsion was extremely just and proper. What have they to do at an University who are not willing to be taught, but will presume to teach? Where is religion to be learnt but at an University? Sir, they were examined, and found to be mighty ignorant fellows."
BOSWELL.
"But, was it not hard, Sir, to expel them, for I am told they were good beings?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, I believe they might be good beings; but they were not fit to be in the University of Oxford. A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden."
Lord Elibank used to repeat this as an illustration uncommonly happy.
Desirous of calling Johnson forth to talk, and exercise his wit, though I should myself be the object of it, I resolutely ventured to undertake the defence of convivial indulgence in wine, though he was not to-night in the most genial humour. After urging the common plausible topicks, I at last had recourse to the maxim,
in vino veritas;
a man who is well warmed with wine will speak truth. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, that may be an argument for drinking, if you suppose men in general to be liars. But, Sir, I would not keep company with a fellow who lyes as long as he is sober, and whom you must make drunk before you can get a word of truth out of him
Mrs. Piozzi, in her
"Anecdotes,"
p. 261, has given an erroneous account of this incident, as of many others. She pretends to relate it from recollection, as if she herself had been present; when the fact is, that it was communicated to her by me. She has represented it as a personality, and the true point has escaped her.
."
Mr. Langton told us he was about to establish a school upon his estate, but it had been suggested to him, that it might have a tendency to make the people less industrious. JOHNSON.
"No, Sir. While learning to read and write is a distinction, the few who have that distinction may be the less inclined to work: but when every body learns to read and write, it is no longer a distinction. A man who has a laced waistcoat is too fine a man to work; but if every body had laced waistcoats, we should have people working in laced waistcoats. There are no people whatever more industrious, none who work more, than our manufacturers; yet they have all learnt to read and write. Sir, you must not neglect doing a thing immediately good, from fear of remote evil;—from fear of its being abused. A man who has candles may sit up too late, which he would not do if he had not candles; but nobody will deny that the art of making candles, by which light is continued to us beyond the time that the sun gives us light, is a valuable art, and ought to be preserved."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, would it not be better to follow Nature; and go to bed and rise just as Nature gives us light or with-holds it?"
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; for then we should have no kind of equality in the partition of our time between sleeping and waking. It would be very different in different seasons and in different places. In some of the northern parts of Scotland how little light is there in the depth of winter!"
We talked of Tacitus, and I hazarded an opinion, that with all his merit for penetration, shrewdness of judgement, and terseness of expression, he was too compact, too much broken into hints, as it were, and therefore too difficult to be understood. To my great satisfaction Dr. Johnson sanctioned this opinion.
"Tacitus, Sir, seems to me rather to have made notes for an historical work, than to have written a history
It is remarkable, that Lord Monboddo, whom on account of his resembling Dr. Johnson in some particulars, Foote called an Elzevir edition of him, has, by coincidence, made the very same remark.
Origin and Progress of Language,
vol. iii. 2d edit. p. 219.
."
At this time it appears from his
"Prayers and Meditations,"
that he had been more than commonly diligent in religious duties, particularly in reading the holy scriptures. It was Passion Week, that solemn season which the Christian world has appropriated to the commemoration of the mysteries of our redemption, and during which, whatever embers of religion are in our breasts, will be kindled into pious warmth.
I paid him short visits both on Friday and Saturday, and seeing his large folio Greek Testament before him, beheld him with a reverential awe, and would not intrude upon his time. While he was thus employed to such good purpose, and while his friends in their intercourse with him constantly found a vigorous intellect and a lively imagination, it is melancholy to read in his private register,
"My mind is unsettled and my memory confused. I have of late turned my thoughts with a very useless earnestness upon past incidents. I have yet got no command over my thoughts; an unpleasing incident is almost certain to hinder my rest
Prayers and Meditations, p. 111.
."
What philosophick heroism was it in him to appear with such manly fortitude to the world, while he was inwardly so distressed! We may surely believe that the mysterious principle of being
"made perfect through suffering,"
was to be strongly exemplified in him.
On Sunday, April 19, being Easter-day, General Paoli and I paid him a visit before dinner. We talked of the notion that blind persons can distinguish colours by the touch. Johnson said, that Professor Sanderson mentions his having attempted to do it, but that he found he was aiming at an impossibility; that to be sure a difference in the surface makes the difference of colours; but that difference is so fine, that it is not sensible to the touch. The General mentioned jugglers and fraudulent gamesters, who could know cards by the touch. Dr. Johnson said,
"the cards used by such persons must be less polished than ours commonly are."
We talked of sounds. The General said, there was no beauty in a simple sound but only in an harmonious composition of sounds. I presumed to differ from this opinion, and mentioned the soft and sweet sound of a fine woman's voice. JOHNSON.
"No, Sir, if a serpent or a toad uttered it, you would think it ugly."
BOSWELL.
"So you would think, Sir, were a beautiful tune to be uttered by one of those animals."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir, it would be admired. We have seen fine fidlers whom we liked as little as toads,"
(laughing).
Talking on the subject of taste in the arts, he said, that difference of taste was, in truth, difference of skill. BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, is there not a quality called taste, which consists merely in perception or in liking? For instance, we find people differ much as to what is the best style of English composition. Some think Swift's the best; others prefer a fuller and grander way of writing."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, you must first define what you mean by style, before you can judge who has a good taste in style, and who has a bad. The two classes of persons whom you have mentioned don't differ as to good and bad. They both agree that Swift has a good neat style; but one loves a neat style, another loves a style of more splendour. In like manner, one loves a plain coat, another loves a laced coat; but neither will deny that each is good in its kind."
While I remained in London this spring, I was with him at several other times, both by himself and in company. I dined with him one day at the Crown and Anchor tavern, in the Strand, with Lord Elibank, Mr. Langton, and Dr. Vansittart of Oxford. Without specifying each particular day, I have preserved the following memorable things.
I regretted the reflection in his Preface to Shakspeare against Garrick, to whom we cannot but apply the following passage:
"I collated such copies as I could procure, and wished for more, but have not found the collectors of these rarities very communicative."
I told him, that Garrick had complained to me of it, and had vindicated himself by assuring me, that Johnson was made welcome to the full use of his collection, and that he left the key of it with a servant, with orders to have a fire and every convenience for him. I found Johnson's notion was, that Garrick wanted to be courted for them, and that, on the contrary, Garrick should have courted him, and sent him the plays of his own accord. But, indeed, considering the flovenly and careless manner in which books were treated by Johnson, it could not be expected that scarce and valuable editions should have been lent to him.
A gentleman having to some of the usual arguments for drinking added this:
"You know, Sir, drinking drives away care, and makes us forget whatever is disagreeable. Would not you allow a man to drink for that reason?"
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir, if he sat next
you."
I expressed a liking for Mr. Francis Osborn's works, and asked him what he thought of that writer. He answered,
"A conceited fellow. Were a man to write so now, the boys would throw stones at him."
He however did not alter my opinion of a favourite authour, to whom I was first directed by his being quoted in
"The Spectator,"
and in whom I have found much shrewd and lively sense, expressed indeed in a style somewhat quaint, which, however, I do not dislike. His book has an air of originality. We figure to ourselves an ancient gentleman talking to us.
When one of his friends endeavoured to maintain that a country gentleman might contrive to pass his life very agreeably,
"Sir, (said he,) you cannot give me an instance of any man who is permitted to lay out his own time, contriving not to have tedious hours."
This observation, however, is equally applicable to gentlemen who live in cities, and are of no profession.
He said,
"there is no permanent national character; it varies according to circumstances. Alexander the Great swept India: now the Turks sweep Greece."
A learned gentleman who in the course of conversation wished to inform us of this simple fact, that the Counsel upon the circuit at Shrewsbury were much bitten by fleas, took, I suppose, seven or eight minutes in relating it circumstantially. He in a plenitude of phrase told us, that large bales of woollen cloth were lodged in the town-hall;—that by reason of this, fleas nestled there in prodigious numbers;—that the lodgings of the Counsel were near to the town-hall;—and that those little animals moved from place to place with wonderful agility. Johnson sat in great impatience till the gentleman had finished his tedious narrative, and then burst out,
"It is a pity, Sir, that you have not seen a lion; for a flea has taken you such a time, that a lion must have served you a twelvemonth
Mrs. Piozzi, to whom I told this anecdote, has related it, as if the gentleman had given
"the
natural history
of the
mouse."
Anecdotes, p. 191.
."
He would not allow Scotland to derive any credit from Lord Mansfield; for he was educated in England.
"Much (said he,) may be made of a Scotchman, if he be
caught
young."
Talking of a modern historian and a modern moralist, he said,
"There is more thought in the moralist than in the historian. There is but a shallow stream of thought in history."
BOSWELL.
"But surely, Sir, an historian has reflection."
JOHNSON.
"Why yes, Sir; and so has a cat when she catches a mouse for her kitten. But she cannot write like the moralist; neither can the historian."
He said,
"I am very unwilling to read the manuscripts of authours, and give them my opinion. If the authours who apply to me have money, I bid them boldly print without a name; if they have written in order to get money, I tell them to go to the booksellers, and make the best bargain they can."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, if a bookseller should bring you a manuscript to look at."
—JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I would desire the bookseller to take it away."
I mentioned a friend of mine who had resided long in Spain, and was unwilling to return to Britain. JOHNSON.
"Sir, he is attached to some woman."
BOSWELL.
"I rather believe, Sir, it is the fine climate which keeps him there."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, how can you talk so? What is
climate
to happiness? Place me in the heart of Asia, should I not be exiled? What proportion does climate bear to the complex system of human life. You may advise me to go and live at Bologna to eat sausages. The sausages there, are the best in the world; they lose much by being carried."
On Saturday, May 9, Mr. Dempster and I had agreed to dine by ourselves at the British coffee-house. Johnson, on whom I happened to call in the morning, said, he would join us, which he did, and we spent a very pleasant day, though I recollect but little of what passed.
He said,
"Walpole was a minister given by the King to the people: Pitt was a minister given by the people to the King,—as an adjunct."
"The misfortune of Goldsmith in conversation is this: he goes on without knowing how he is to get off. His genius is great, but his knowledge is small. As they say of a generous man, it is a pity he is not rich; we may say of Goldsmith, it is a pity he is not knowing. He would not keep his knowledge to himself."
Before leaving London this year, I consulted him upon a question purely of Scotch law. It was held of old, and continued for a long period, to be an established principle in that law, that whoever intermeddled with the effects of a person deceased, without the interposition of legal authority to guard against embezzlement, should be subjected to pay all the debts of the deceased, as having been guilty of what was technically called
vitious intromission.
The Court of Session had gradually relaxed the strictness of this principle, where the interference proved had been inconsiderable. In a case
Wilson against Smith and Armour.
which came before that Court the preceding winter, I had laboured to persuade the Judges to return to the ancient law. It was my own sincere opinion, that they ought to adhere to it; but I had exhausted all my powers of reasoning in vain. Johnson thought as I did; and in order to assist me in my application to the Court for a revision and alteration of the judgement, he dictated to me the following argument:
This, we are told, is a law which has its force only from the long practice of the Court; and may, therefore, be suspended or modified as the Court shall think proper.
Concerning the power of the Court to make or to suspend a law, we have no intention to inquire. It is sufficient for our purpose that every just law is dictated by reason; and that the practice of every legal Court is regulated by equity. It is the quality of reason to be invariable and constant; and of equity, to give to one man what, in the same case, is given to another. The advantage which humanity derives from law is this: that the law gives every man a rule of action, and prescribes a mode of conduct which shall entitle him to the support and protection of society. That the law may be a rule of action, it is necessary that it be known;—it is necessary that it be permanent and stable. The law is the measure of civil right; but if the measure be changeable, the extent of the thing measured never can be settled.
To permit a law to be modified at discretion, is to leave the community without law. It is to withdraw the direction of that publick wisdom, by which the deficiencies of private understanding are to be supplied. It is to suffer the rash and ignorant to act at discretion, and then to depend for the legality of that action on the sentence of the Judge. He that is thus governed, lives not by law, but by opinion: not by a certain rule to which he can apply his intention before he acts, but by an uncertain and variable opinion, which he can never know but after he has committed the act on which that opinion shall be passed. He lives by a law (if a law it be,) which he can never know before he has offended it. To this case may be justly applied that important principle,
misera est servitus ubi jus est aut incognitum aut vagum.
If Intromission be not criminal till it exceeds a certain point, and that point be unsettled, and consequently different in different minds, the right of Intromission, and the right of the Creditor arising from it, are all
jura vaga,
and, by consequence, are
jura incognita;
and the result can be no other than a
misera servitus,
an uncertainty concerning the event of action, a servile dependance on private opinion.
It may be urged, and with great plausibility, that there may be Intromission without fraud; which, however true, will by no means justify an occasional and arbitrary relaxation of the law. The end of law is protection as well as vengeance. Indeed, vengeance is never used but to strengthen protection. That society only is well governed, where life is freed from danger and from suspicion; where possession is so sheltered by salutary prohibitions, that violation is prevented more frequently than punished. Such a prohibition was this, while it operated with its original force. The creditor of the deceased was not only without loss, but without fear. He was not to seek a remedy for an injury suffered; for injury was warded off.
As the law has been sometimes administered, it lays us open to wounds, because it is imagined to have the power of healing. To punish fraud when it is detected, is the proper act of vindictive justice; but to prevent frauds, and make punishment unnecessary, is the great employment of legislative wisdom. To permit Intromission, and to punish fraud, is to make law no better than a pitfall. To tread upon the brink is safe; but to come a step further is destruction. But, surely, it is better to enclose the gulf, and hinder all access, than by encouraging us to advance a little, to entice us afterwards a little further, and let us perceive our folly only by our destruction.
As law supplies the weak with adventitious strength, it likewise enlightens the ignorant with extrinsick understanding. Law teaches us to know when we commit injury, and when we suffer it. It fixes certain marks upon actions, by which we are admonished to do or to forbear them.
Qui sibi bene temperat in licitis,
says one of the fathers,
nunquam cadet in illicita.
He who never intromits at all, will never intromit with fraudulent intentions.
The relaxation of the law against vicious intromission has been very favourably represented by a great master of jurisprudence
Lord Kames, in his
"Historical Law Tracts."
, whose words have been exhibited with unnecessary pomp, and seem to be considered as irresistibly decisive. The great moment of his authority makes it necessary to examine his position.
'Some ages ago, (says he,) before the ferocity of the inhabitants of this part of the island was subdued, the utmost severity of the civil law was necessary, to restrain individuals from plundering each other. Thus, the man who intermeddled irregularly with the moveables of a person deceased, was subjected to all the debts of the deceased without limitation. This makes a branch of the law of Scotland, known by the name of
vicious intromission;
and so rigidly was this regulation applied in our Courts of Law, that the most trifling moveable abstracted
malâ fide,
subjected the intermeddler to the foregoing consequences, which proved in many instances a most rigorous punishment. But this severity was necessary, in order to subdue the undisciplined nature of our people. It is extremely remarkable, that in proportion to our improvement in manners, this regulation has been gradually softened, and applied by our sovereign Court with a sparing hand.'
I find myself under a necessity of observing, that this learned and judicious writer has not accurately distinguished the deficiencies and demands of the different conditions of human life, which, from a degree of savageness and independence, in which all laws are vain, passes or may pass, by innumerable gradations, to a state of reciprocal benignity, in which laws shall be no longer necessary. Men are first wild and unsocial, living each man to himself, taking from the weak, and losing to the strong. In their first coalitions of society, much of this original savageness is retained. Of general happiness, the product of general confidence, there is yet no thought. Men continue to prosecute their own advantages by the nearest way; and the utmost severity of the civil law is necessary to restrain individuals from plundering each other. The restraints then necessary, are restraints from plunder, from acts of publick violence, and undisguised oppression. The ferocity of our ancestors, as of all other nations, produced not fraud but rapine. They had not yet learned to cheat, and attempted only to rob. As manners grow more polished, with the knowledge of good, men attain likewise dexterity in evil. Open rapine becomes less frequent, and violence gives way to cunning. Those who before invaded pastures and stormed houses, now begin to enrich themselves by unequal contracts and fraudulent intromissions. It is not against the violence of ferocity, but the circumventions of deceit, that this law was framed; and I am afraid the increase of commerce, and the incessant struggle for riches which commerce excites, give us no prospect of an end speedily to be expected of artifice and fraud. It therefore seems to be no very conclusive reasoning, which connects those two propositions;—'the nation is become less ferocious, and therefore the laws against fraud and
coven
shall be relaxed.'
Whatever reason may have influenced the Judges to a relaxation of the law, it was not that the nation was grown less fierce; and, I am afraid, it cannot be affirmed that it is grown less fraudulent.
Since this law has been represented as rigorously and unreasonably penal, it seems not improper to consider what are the conditions and qualities that make the justice or propriety of a penal law.
To make a penal law reasonable and just, two conditions are necessary, and two proper. It is necessary that the law should be adequate to its end; that, if it be observed, it shall prevent the evil against which it is directed. It is, secondly, necessary that the end of the law be of such importance, as to deserve the security of a penal sanction. The other conditions of a penal law, which though not absolutely necessary, are to a very high degree fit, are, that to the moral violation of the law there are many temptations, and that of the physical observance there is great facility.
All these conditions apparently concur to justify the law which we are now considering. Its end is the security of property; and property very often of great value. The method by which it effects the security is efficacious, because it admits, in its original rigour, no gradations of injury; but keeps guilt and innocence apart, by a distinct and definite limitation. He that intromits, is criminal; he that intromits not, is innocent. Of the two secondary considerations it cannot be denied that both are in our favour. The temptation to intromit is frequent and strong; so strong and so frequent, as to require the utmost activity of justice, and vigilance of caution, to withstand its prevalence; and the method by which a man may entitle himself to legal intromission is so open and so facile, that no neglect it is a proof of fraudulent intention: for why should a man omit to do (but for reasons which he will not confess,) that which he can do so easily, and that which he knows to be required by the law? If temptation were rare, a penal law might be deemed unnecessary. If the duty enjoined by the law were of difficult performance, omission, though it could not be justified, might be pitied. But in the present case, neither equity nor compassion operate against it. A useful, a necessary law is broken, not only without a reasonable motive, but with all the inducements to obedience that can be derived from safety and facility.
I therefore return to my original position, that a law, to have its effect, must be permanent and stable. It may be said, in the language of the schools,
Lex non recepit majus et minus,
—we may have a law, or we may have no law, but we cannot have half a law. We must either have a rule of action, or be permitted to act by discretion and by chance. Deviations from the law must be uniformly punished, or no man can be certain when he shall be safe.
That from the rigour of the original institution this Court has sometimes departed, cannot be denied. But, as it is evident that such deviations, as they make law uncertain, make life unsafe, I hope, that of departing from it there will now be an end; that the wisdom of our ancestors will be treated with due reverence; and that consistent and steady decisions will furnish the people with a rule of action, and leave fraud and fraudulent intromission no future hope of impunity or escape.
With such comprehension of mind, and such clearness of penetration, did he thus treat a subject altogether new to him, without any other preparation than my having stated to him the arguments which had been used on each side of the question. His intellectual powers appeared with peculiar lustre, when tried against those of a writer of so much fame as Lord Kames, and that too in his Lordship's own department.
This masterly argument, after being prefaced and concluded with some sentences of my own, and garnished with the usual formularies, was actually printed and laid before the Lords of Session, but without success. My respected friend Lord Hailes, however, one of that honourable body, had critical sagacity enough to discover a more than ordinary hand in the
Petition.
I told him that Dr. Johnson had favoured me with his pen. His Lordship, with wonderful
acumen,
pointed out exactly where his composition began, and where it ended. But that I may do impartial justice, and conform to the great rule of Courts,
Suum cuique tribuito,
I must add, that their Lordships in general, though they were pleased to call this
"a well-drawn paper,"
preferred the former very inferiour petition which I had written; thus confirming the truth of an observation made to me by one of their number, in a merry mood:
"My dear Sir, give yourself no trouble in the composition of the papers you present to us; for, indeed, it is casting pearls before swine."
I renewed my solicitations that he would this year accomplish his long-intended visit to Scotland.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
THE regret has not been little with which I have missed a journey so pregnant with pleasing expectations, as that in which I could promise myself not only the gratification of curiosity, both rational and fanciful, but the delight of seeing those whom I love and esteem, ***********▪ But such has been the course of things, that I could not come; and such has been, I am afraid, the state of my body, that it would not well have seconded my inclination. My body, I think, grows better, and I refer my hopes to another year; for I am very sincere in my design to pay the visit, and take the ramble. In the mean time, do not omit any opportunity of keeping up a favourable opinion of me in the minds of any of my friends. Beattie's book is, I believe, every day more liked; at least, I like it more, as I look more upon it.
I am glad if you got credit by your cause, and am yet of opinion that our cause was good, and that the determination ought to have been in your favour. Poor Hastie, I think, had but his deserts.
You promised to get me a little Pindar, and may add to it a little Anacreon.
The leisure which I cannot enjoy, it will be a pleasure to hear that you employ upon the antiquities of the feudal establishment. The whole system of ancient tenures is gradually passing away; and I wish to have the knowledge of it preserved adequate and complete. For such an institution makes a very important part of the history of mankind. Do not forget a design so worthy of a scholar who studies the laws of his country, and of a gentleman who may naturally be curious to know the condition of his own ancestors.
I am, dear Sir, Yours with great affection, SAM. JOHNSON.
August 31, 1772.
To Dr.
JOHNSON.
MY DEAR SIR,
Edinburgh,
Dec. 25, 1773.
* * * * * *
I WAS much disappointed that you did not come to Scotland last autumn. However, I must own that your letter prevents me from complaining; not only because I am sensible that the state of your health was but too good an excuse, but because you write in a strain which shews that you have agreeable views of the scheme which we have so long proposed.
* * * * * *
I communicated to Beattie what you said of his book in your last letter to me. He writes to me thus: 'You judge very rightly in supposing that Dr. Johnson's favourable opinion of my book must give me great delight. Indeed it is impossible for me to say how much I am gratified by it; for there is not a man upon earth whose good opinion I would be more ambitious to cultivate. His talents and his virtues I reverence more than any words can express. The extraordinary civilities, (the paternal attentions I should rather say,) and the many instructions I have had the honour to receive from him, will to me be a perpetual source of pleasure in the recollection.
'Dum memor ipse mei dum spiritus hos reget artus.'
'I had still some thoughts, while the summer lasted, of being obliged to go to London on some little business; otherwise I should certainly have troubled him with a letter several months ago, and given some vent to my gratitude and admiration. This I intend to do, as soon as I am left a little at leisure. Mean time, if you have occasion to write to him, I beg you will offer him my most respectful compliments, and assure him of the sincerity of my attachment and the warmth of my gratitude.'
* * * * * *
I am, &c. JAMES BOSWELL.
In 1773 his only publication was an edition of his folio Dictionary, with additions and corrections; nor did he, so far as is known, furnish any productions of his fertile pen to any of his numerous friends or dependants, except the Preface * to his old amanuensis Macbean's
"Dictionary of ancient Geography."
His Shakspeare, indeed, which had been received with high approbation by the publick, and gone through several editions, was this year re-published by George Steevens, Esq. a gentleman not only deeply skilled in ancient learning, and of very extensive reading in English literature, especially the early writers, but at the same time of acute discernment and elegant taste. It is almost unnecessary to say, that by his great and valuable additions to Dr. Johnson's work, he justly obtained considerable reputation:
"Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet."
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
I HAVE read your kind letter much more than the elegant Pindar which it accompanied. I am always glad to find myself not forgotten, and to be forgotten by you would give me great uneasiness. My northern friends have never been unkind to me: I have from you, dear Sir, testimonies of affection, which I have not often been able to excite; and Dr. Beattie rates the testimony which I was desirous of paying to his merit, much higher than I should have thought it reasonable to expect.
I have heard of your masquerade. What says your Synod to such innovations? I am not studiously scrupulous, nor do I think a masquerade either evil in itself, or very likely to be the occasion of evil; yet as the world thinks it a very licentious relaxation of manners, I would not have been one of the
first
masquers in a country where no masquerade had ever been before
There had been masquerades in Scotland before; but not for a very long time.
.
A new edition of my great Dictionary is printed, from a copy which I was persuaded to revise; but having made no preparation, I was able to do very little. Some superfluities I have expunged, and some faults I have corrected, and here and there have scattered a remark; but the main fabrick of the work remains as it was. I had looked very little into it since I wrote it, and, I think, I found it full as often better, as worse, than I expected.
Baretti and Davies have had a furious quarrel; a quarrel, I think, irreconcileable. Dr. Goldsmith has a new comedy, which is expected in the spring. No name is yet given it. The chief diversion arises from a stratagem by which a lover is made to mistake his future father-in-law's house for an inn. This, you see, borders upon farce. The dialogue is quick and gay▪ and the incidents are so prepared as not to seem improbable.
I am sorry that you lost your cause of Intromission, because I yet think the arguments on your side unanswerable. But you seem, I think, to say that you gained reputation even by your defeat; and reputation you will daily gain, if you keep Lord Auchinleck's precept in your mind, and endeavour to consolidate in your mind a firm and regular system of law, instead of picking up occasional fragments.
My health seems in general to improve; but I have been troubled for many weeks with a vexatious catarrh, which is sometimes sufficiently distressful. I have not found any great effects from bleeding and physick; and am afraid, that I must expect help from brighter days and softer air.
Write to me now and then; and whenever any good befalls you, make haste to let me know it, for no one will rejoice at it more than,
dear Sir,
Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
Feb 24, 1773.
You continue to stand very high in the favour of Mrs. Thrale.
On Saturday, April 3, the day after my arrival in London this year, I went to his house late in the evening, and sat with Mrs. Williams till he came home. I found in the London Chronicle, Dr. Goldsmith's apology to the publick for beating Evans, a bookseller, on account of a paragraph in a newspaper published by him, which Goldsmith thought impertinent to him and to a lady of his acquaintance. The apology was written so much in Dr. Johnson's manner, that both Mrs. Williams and I supposed it to be his; but when he came home he soon undeceived us. When he said to Mrs. Williams,
"Well, Dr. Goldsmith's
manifesto
has got into your paper;"
I asked him if Dr. Goldsmith had written it, with an air that made him see I suspected it was his, though subscribed by Goldsmith. JOHNSON.
"Sir, Dr. Goldsmith would no more have asked me to write such a thing as that for him, than he would have asked me to feed him with a spoon, or to do any thing else that denoted his imbecillity. I as much believe that he wrote it, as if I had seen him do it. Sir, had he shewn it to any one friend, he would not have been allowed to publish it. He has, indeed, done it very well; but it is a foolish thing well done. I suppose he has been so much elated with the success of his new comedy, that he has thought every thing that concerned him must be of importance to the publick."
BOSWELL.
"I fancy, Sir, this is the first time that he has been engaged in such an adventure."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I believe it is the first time he has
beat;
he may have
been beaten
before. This, Sir, is a new plume to him."
I mentioned Sir John Dalrymple's
"Memoirs of Great-Britain and Ireland,"
and his discoveries to the prejudice of Lord Russel and Algernon Sydney. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, every body who had just notions of government thought them rascals before. It is well that all mankind now see them to be rascals."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, may not those discoveries be true without their being rascals."
JOHNSON.
"Consider, Sir; would any of them have been willing to have had it known that they intrigued with France? Depend upon it, Sir, he who does what he is afraid should be known, has something rotten about him. This Dalrymple seems to be an honest fellow; for he tells equally what makes against both sides. But nothing can be poorer than his mode of writing: it is the mere bouncing of a school-boy. Great He! but greater She! and such stuff."
I could not agree with him in this criticism; for though Sir John Dalrymple's style is not regularly formed in any respect, and one cannot help smiling sometimes at his affected
grandiloquence,
there is in his writing a pointed vivacity, and much of a gentlemanly spirit.
At Mr. Thrale's, in the evening, he repeated his usual paradoxical declamation against action in publick speaking.
"Action can have no effect upon reasonable minds. It may augment noise, but it never can enforce argument. If you speak to a dog, you use action; you hold up your hand thus, because he is a brute; and in proportion as men are removed from brutes, action will have the less influence upon them."
MRS. THRALE.
"What then, Sir, becomes of Demosthenes's saying? 'Action, action, action!"
JOHNSON.
"Demosthenes, Madam, spoke to an assembly of brutes; to a barbarous people."
I thought it extraordinary, that he should deny the power of rhetorical action upon human nature, when it is proved by innumerable facts in all stages of society. Reasonable beings are not solely reasonable. They have fancies which may be pleased, passions which may be roused.
Lord Chesterfield being mentioned, Johnson remarked, that almost all of that celebrated nobleman's witty sayings were puns. He, however, allowed the merit of good wit to his Lordship's saying of Lord Tyrawley and himself, when both very old and infirm:
"Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years; but we don't choose to have it known."
He talked with approbation of an intended edition of
"The Spectator,"
with notes; two volumes of which had been prepared by a gentleman eminent in the literary world, and the materials which he had collected for the remainder had been transferred to another hand. He observed, that all works which describe manners, require notes in sixty or seventy years, or less; and told us, he had communicated all he knew that could throw light upon
"The Spectator."
He said,
"Addison had made his Sir Andrew Freeport a true Whig, arguing against giving charity to beggars, and throwing out other such ungracious sentiments; but that he had thought better, and made amends by making him found an hospital for decayed farmers."
He called for the volume of
"The Spectator"
in which that account is contained, and read it aloud to us. He read so well, that every thing acquired additional weight and grace from his utterance.
The conversation having turned on modern imitations of ancient ballads, and some one having praised their simplicity, he treated them with that ridicule which he always displayed when this subject was mentioned.
He disapproved of introducing scripture phrases into secular discourse. This seemed to me a question of some difficulty. A scripture expression may be used, like a highly classical phrase, to produce an instantaneous strong impression; and it may be done without being at all improper. Yet I own there is danger, that applying the language of our sacred book to ordinary subjects may tend to lessen our reverence for it. If therefore it be introduced at all, it should be with very great caution.
On Thursday, April 8, I sat a good part of the evening with him, but he was very silent. He said,
"Burnet's History of his own Times,' is very entertaining. The style, indeed, is mere chit-chat. I do not believe that Burnet intentionally lyed; but he was so much prejudiced, that he took no pains to find out the truth. He was like a man who resolves to regulate his time by a certain watch; but will not inquire whether the watch is right or not."
Though he was not disposed to talk, he was unwilling that I should leave him; and when I looked at my watch, and told him it was twelve o'clock, he cried,
"What's that to you and me?"
and ordered Frank to tell Mrs. Williams that we were coming to drink tea with her, which we did. It was settled that we should go to church together next day.
On the 9th of April, being Good Friday, I breakfasted with him on tea and cross-buns;
Doctor
Levet, as Frank called him, making the tea. He carried me with him to the church of St. Clement Danes, where he had his seat; and his behaviour was, as I had imaged to myself, solemnly devout. I never shall forget the tremulous earnestness with which he pronounced the aweful petition in the Litany:
"In the hour of death, and at the day of judgement, good LORD deliver us."
We went to church both in the morning and evening. In the interval between the two services we did not dine, but he read in the Greek New Testament, and I turned over several of his books.
In Archbishop Laud's Diary, I found the following passage, which I read to Dr. Johnson:
"1623. February 1, Sunday. I stood by the most illustrious Prince Charles3
2 Afterwards Charles I.
, at dinner. He was then very merry, and talked occasionally of many things with his attendants. Among other things, he said, that if he were necessitated to take any particular profession of life, he could not be a lawyer, adding his reasons: 'I cannot (saith he,) defend a bad, nor yield in a good cause."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, this is false reasoning; because every cause has a bad side: and a lawyer is not overcome, though the cause which he has endeavoured to support be determined against him."
I told him that Goldsmith had said to me a few days before,
"As I take my shoes from the shoemaker, and my coat from the taylor, so I take my religion from the priest."
I regretted this loose way of talking. JOHNSON.
"Sir, he knows nothing; he has made up his mind about nothing."
To my great surprize, he asked me to dine with him on Easter-day. I never supposed that he had a dinner at his house; for I had not then heard of any one of his friends having been entertained at his table. He told me,
"I generally have a meat pye on Sunday: it is baked at a publick oven, which is very properly allowed, because one man can attend it; and thus the advantage is obtained of not keeping servants from church to dress dinners."
April 11, being Easter-Sunday, after having attended divine service at St. Paul's, I repaired to Dr. Johnson's. I had gratified my curiosity much in dining with JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU, while he lived in the wilds of Neufchatel: I had as great a curiosity to dine with DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON, in the dusky recess of a court in Fleet-street. I supposed we should scarcely have knives and forks, and only some strange uncouth ill-drest dish: but I found every thing in very good order. We had no other company but Mrs. Williams and a young woman whom I did not know. As a dinner here was considered as a singular phaenomenon, and as I was frequently interrogated on the subject, my readers may perhaps be desirous to know our bill of fare. Foote, I remember, in allusion to Francis, the
negro,
was willing to suppose that our repast was
black broth.
But the fact was, that we had a very good soup, a boiled leg of lamb and spinach, a veal pye, and a rice pudding.
Of Dr. John Campbell, the authour, he said,
"He is a very inquisitive and a very able man, and a man of good religious principles, though I am afraid he has been deficient in practice. Campbell is radically right; and we may hope, that in time there will be good practice."
He owned that he thought Hawkesworth was one of his imitators, but he did not think Goldsmith was. Goldsmith, he said, had great merit. BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, he is much indebted to you for his getting so high in the publick estimation."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, he has, perhaps, got
sooner
to it by his intimacy with me."
Goldsmith, though his vanity often excited him to occasional competition, had a very high regard for Johnson, which he at this time expressed in the strongest manner in the Dedication of his comedy, entitled,
"She stoops to conquer
"By inscribing this slight performance to you, I do not mean so much to compliment you, as myself. It may do me some honour to inform the publick, that I have lived many years in intimacy with you. It may serve the interests of mankind also to inform them, that the greatest wit may be found in a character, without impairing the most unaffected piety."
."
Johnson observed, that there were very few books printed in Scotland before the Union. He had seen a complete collection of them in the possession of the Honourable Archibald Campbell, a nonjuring Bishop
"By inscribing this slight performance to you, I do not mean so much to compliment you, as myself. It may do me some honour to inform the publick, that I have lived many years in intimacy with you. It may serve the interests of mankind also to inform them, that the greatest wit may be found in a character, without impairing the most unaffected piety."
. I wish this collection had been kept entire. Many of them are in the library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh. I told Dr. Johnson that I had some intention to write the life of the learned and worthy Thomas Ruddiman. He said,
"I should take pleasure in helping you to do honour to him. But his farewell letter to the Faculty of Advocates, when he resigned the office of their Librarian, should have been in Latin."
I put a question to him upon a fact in common life, which he could not answer, nor have I found any one else who could. What is the reason that women servants, though obliged to be at the expence of purchasing their own clothes, have much lower wages than men servants, to whom a great proportion of that article is furnished, and when in fact our female house servants work much harder than the male?
5 See an account of this learned and respectable gentleman, and of his curious work on the
Middle State,
"Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,"
3d edit. p. 371.
He told me, that he had twelve or fourteen times attempted to keep a journal of his life, but never could persevere. He advised me to do it.
"The great thing to be recorded, (said he,) is the state of your own mind; and you should write down every thing that you remember, for you cannot judge at first what is good or bad; and write immediately while the impression is fresh, for it will not be the same a week afterwards."
I again solicited him to communicate to me the particulars of his early years. He said,
"You shall have them all for two-pence. I hope you shall know a great deal more of me before you write my Life."
He mentioned to me this day many circumstances, which I wrote down when I went home, and have interwoven in the former part of this narrative.
On Tuesday, April 13, he and Dr. Goldsmith and I dined at General Oglethorpe's. Goldsmith expatiated on the common topick, that the race of our people was degenerated, and that this was owing to luxury. JOHNSON.
"Sir, in the first place, I doubt the fact. I believe there are as many tall men in England now, as ever there were. But, secondly, supposing the stature of our people to be diminished, that is not owing to luxury; for, Sir, consider to how very small a proportion of our people luxury can reach. Our soldiery, surely, are not luxurious, who live on six-pence a day; and the same remark will apply to almost all the other classes. Luxury, so far as it reaches the poor, will do good to the race of people: it will strengthen and multiply them. Sir, no nation was ever hurt by luxury; for, as I said before, it can reach but to a very few. I admit that the great increase of commerce and manufactures hurts the military spirit of a people; because it produces a competition for something else than martial honours,—a competition for riches. It also hurts the bodies of the people; for you will observe, there is no man who works at any particular trade, but you may know him from his appearance to do so. One part or other of his body being more used than the rest, he is in some degree deformed: but, Sir, that is not luxury. A tailor sits cross-legged; but that is not luxury."
GOLDSMITH.
"Come, you're just going to the same place by another road."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, I say that is not
luxury.
Let us take a walk from Charing-cross to Whitechapel, through, I suppose, the greatest series of shops in the world, what is there is any of these shops, (if you except gin-shops,) that can do any human being any harm?"
GOLDSMITH.
"Well, Sir, I'll accept your challenge. The very next shop to Northumberland-house is a pickle-shop."
JOHNSON.
"Well, Sir: do we not know that a maid can in one afternoon make pickles sufficient to serve a whole family for a year? nay, that five pickle-shops can serve all the kingdom? Besides, Sir, there is no harm done to any body by the making of pickles, or the eating of pickles."
We drank tea with the ladies; and Goldsmith sung Tony Lumpkin's song in his comedy,
"She stoops to conquer,"
and a very pretty one, to an Irish tune, which he had designed for Miss Hardcastle; but as Mrs. Bulkeley, who played the part, could not sing, it was left out. He afterwards wrote it down for me, by which means it was preserved, and now appears amongst his poems. Dr. Johnson, in his way home, stopt at my lodgings in Piccadilly, and sat with me, drinking tea a second time, till a late hour.
I told him that Mrs. Macaulay said, she wondered how he could reconcile his political principles with his moral; his notions of inequality and subordination with wishing well to the happiness of all mankind, who might live so agreeably, had they all their portions of land, and none to domineer over another. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I reconcile my principles very well, because mankind are happier in a state of inequality and subordination. Were they to be in this pretty state of equality, they would soon degenerate into brutes;—they would become Monboddo's nation;—their tails would grow. Sir, all would be losers, were all to work to all:—they would have no intellectual improvement. All intellectual improvement arises from leisure: all leisure arises from one working for another."
Talking of the family of Stuart, he said,
"It should seem that the family at present on the throne has now established as good a right as the former family, by the long consent of the people; and that to disturb this right might be considered as culpable. At the same time I own, that it is a very difficult question, when considered with respect to the house of Stuart. To oblige people to take oaths as to the disputed right, is wrong. I know not whether I could take them: but I do not blame those who do."
So conscientious and so delicate was he upon this subject, which has occasioned so much clamour against him.
Talking of law cases, he said,
"The English reports, in general, are very poor: only the half of what has been said is taken down; and of that half, much is mistaken. Whereas, in Scotland, the arguments on each side are deliberately put in writing, to be considered by the Court. I think a collection of your cases upon subjects of importance, with the opinions of the Judges upon them, would be valuable."
On Thursday, April 15, I dined with him and Dr. Goldsmith at General Paoli's. We found here, Signor Martinelli, of Florence, authour of a History of England in Italian, printed at London.
I spoke of Allan Ramsay's
"Gentle Shepherd,"
in the Scottish dialect, as the best pastoral that had ever been written; not only abounding with beautiful rural imagery, and just and pleasing sentiments, but being a real picture of manners; and I offered to teach Dr. Johnson to understand it.
"No, Sir, (said he,) I won't learn it. You shall retain your superiority by my not knowing it."
This brought on a question whether one man is lessened by another's acquiring an equal degree of knowledge with him. Johnson asserted the affirmative. I maintained that the position might be true in those kinds of knowledge which produce wisdom, power, and force, so as to enable one man to have the government of others; but that a man is not in any degree lessened by others knowing as well as he what ends in mere pleasure:—eating fine fruits, drinking delicious wines, reading exquisite poetry.
The General observed, that Martinelli was a Whig. JOHNSON.
"I am sorry for it. It shews the spirit of the times: he is obliged to temporise."
BOSWELL.
"I rather think, Sir, that Toryism prevails in this reign."
JOHNSON.
"I know not why you should think so, Sir. You see your friend Lord Lyttelton, a nobleman, is obliged in his History to write the most vulgar Whiggism."
An animated debate took place whether Martinelli should continue his History of England to the present day. GOLDSMITH.
"To be sure he should."
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; he would give great offence. He would have to tell of almost all the living great what they do not wish told."
GOLDSMITH.
"It may, perhaps, be necessary for a native to be more cautious; but a foreigner who comes among us without prejudice, may be considered as holding the place of a Judge, and may speak his mind freely."
JOHNSON▪
"Sir, a foreigner, when he sends a work from the press, ought to be on his guard against catching the errour and mistaken enthusiasm of the people among whom he happens to be."
GOLDSMITH.
"Sir, he wants only to sell his history, and tell truth; one an honest, the other a laudable motive."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, they are both laudable motives. It is laudable in a man to wish to live by his labours; but he should write so as he may
live
by them, not so as he may be knocked on the head. I would advise him to be at Calais before he publishes his history of the present age. A foreigner who attaches himself to a political party in this country, is in the worst state that can be imagined: he is looked upon as a mere intermeddler. A native may do it from interest."
BOSWELL.
"Or principle."
GOLDSMITH.
"There are people who tell a hundred political lies every day, and are not hurt by it. Surely, then, one may tell truth with safety."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, in the first place, he who tells a hundred lies has disarmed the force of his lies. But besides; a man had rather have a hundred lies told of him, than one truth which he does not wish should be told."
GOLDSMITH.
"For my part, I'd tell truth, and shame the devil."
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir; but the devil will be angry. I wish to shame the devil as much as you do; but I should choose to be out of the reach of his claws."
GOLDSMITH.
"His claws can do you no harm, when you have the shield of truth."
It having been observed that there was little hospitality in London; JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, any man who has a name, or who has the power of pleasing, will be very generally invited in London. The man, Sterne, I have been told, has had engagements for three months."
GOLDSMITH.
"And a very dull fellow."
JOHNSON.
"Why no, Sir."
Martinelli told us, that for several years he lived much with Charles Townshend, and that he ventured to tell him he was a bad joker. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, thus much I can say upon the subject. One day he and a few more agreed to go and dine in the country, and each of them was to bring a a friend in his carriage with him. Charles Townshend asked Fitzherbert to go with him, but told him, 'You must find somebody to bring you back: I can only carry you there.' Fitzherbert did not much like this arrangement. He however consented, observing sarcastically, 'It will do very well; for then the same jokes will serve you in returning as in going."
An eminent publick character being mentioned;—JOHNSON.
"I remember being present when he shewed himself to be so corrupted, or at least something so different from what I think right, as to maintain, that a member of parliament should go along with his party right or wrong. Now, Sir, this is so remote from native virtue, from scholastick virtue, that a good man must have undergone a great change before he can reconcile himself to such a doctrine. It is maintaining, that you may lie to the publick; for you lie when you call that right which you think wrong, or the reverse. A friend of ours, who is too much an echo of that gentleman, observed, that a man who does not stick uniformly to a party, is only waiting to be bought. Why then, said I, he is only waiting to be what that gentleman is already."
We talked of the King's coming to see Goldsmith's new play.—
"I wish he would,"
said Goldsmith; adding, however, with an affected indifference,
"Not that it would do me the least good."
JOHNSON.
"Well then, Sir, let us say it would do
him
good, (laughing.) No, Sir, this affectation will not pass;—it is mighty idle. In such a state as ours, who would not wish to please the chief magistrate?"
GOLDSMITH.
"I
do
wish to please him. I remember a line in Dryden,
'And ev'ry poet is the Monarch's friend.'
It ought to be reversed."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, there are finer lines in Dryden on this subject:
'For colleges on bounteous Kings depend,
'And never rebel was to arts a friend."
General Paoli observed, that successful rebels might. MARTINELLI.
"Happy rebellions."
GOLDSMITH.
"We have no such phrase."
GENERAL PAOLI.
"But have you not the
thing?"
GOLDSMITH.
"Yes; all our
happy
revolutions. They have hurt our constitution, and will hurt it, till we mend it by another HAPPY REVOLUTION."
—I never before discovered that my friend Goldsmith had so much of the old prejudice in him.
General Paoli, talking of Goldsmith's new play, said,
"Il a fait un compliment très gracieux à une certaine grande dame;"
meaning a Duchess of the first rank.
I expressed a doubt whether Goldsmith intended it, in order that I might hear the truth from himself. It, perhaps, was not quite fair to endeavour to bring him to a confession, as he might not wish to avow positively his taking part against the Court. He smiled and hesitated. The General at once relieved him, by this beautiful image:
"Monsieur Goldsmith est comme la mer qui jette des perles et beaucoup d'autres belles choses, sans s'en appercevoir."
GOLDSMITH.
"Très bien dit, et très élégamment."
A person was mentioned, who it was said could take down in short hand the speeches in parliament with perfect exactness. JOHNSON.
"Sir, it is impossible. I remember one Angel, who came to me to write for him a Preface or Dedication to a book upon short hand, and he professed to write as fast as a man could speak. In order to try him, I took down a book, and read while he wrote; and I favoured him, for I read more deliberately than usual. I had proceeded but a very little way, when he begged I would desist, for he could not follow me."
Hearing now for the first time of this Preface or Dedication, I said,
"What an expence, Sir, do you put us to in buying books, to which you have written Prefaces or Dedications."
JOHNSON.
"Why I have dedicated to the Royal Family all round; that is to say, to the last generation of the Royal Family."
GOLDSMITH.
"And perhaps, Sir, not one sentence of wit in a whole Dedication."
JOHNSON.
"Perhaps not, Sir."
BOSWELL.
"What then is the reason for applying to a particular person to do that which any one may do as well?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, one man has greater readiness at doing it than another."
I spoke of Mr. Harris, of Salisbury, as being a very learned man, and in particular an eminent Grecian. JOHNSON.
"I am not sure of that. His friends give him out as such, but I know not who of his friends are able to judge of it."
GOLDSMITH.
"He is what is much better: he is a worthy humane man."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, that is not to the purpose of our argument: that will as much prove that he can play upon the fiddle as well as Giardini, as that he is an eminent Grecian."
GOLDSMITH.
"The greatest musical performers have but small emoluments. Giardini, I am told, does not get above seven hundred a year."
JOHNSON.
"That is, indeed, but little for a man to get, who does best that which so many endeavour to do. There is nothing, I think, in which the power of art is shewn so much as in playing on the fiddle. In all other things we can do something at first. Any man will forge a bar of iron, if you give him a hammer; not so well as a smith, but tolerably. A man will saw a piece of wood, and make a box, though a clumsy one; but give him a fiddle and a fiddle-stick, and he can do nothing."
On Monday, April 19, he called on me with Mrs. Williams, in Mr. Strahan's coach, and carried me out to dine with Mr. Elphinston, at his academy at Kensington. A printer having acquired a fortune sufficient to keep his coach, was a good topick for the credit of literature. Mrs. Williams said, that another printer, Mr. Hamilton, had not waited so long as Mr. Strahan, but had kept his coach several years sooner. JOHNSON.
"He was in the right. Life is short. The sooner that a man begins to enjoy his wealth the better."
Mr. Elphinston talked of a new book that was much admired, and asked Dr. Johnson if he had read it. JOHNSON.
"I have looked into it."
"What (said Elphinston,) have you not read it through?"
Johnson, offended at being thus pressed, and so obliged to own his cursory mode of reading, answered tartly,
"No, Sir; do
you
read books
through?"
He this day again defended duelling, and put his argument upon what I have ever thought the most solid basis; that if publick war be allowed to be consistent with morality, private war must be equally so. Indeed we may observe what strained arguments are used, to reconcile war with the Christian religion. But, in my opinion, it is exceedingly clear that duelling having better reasons for its barbarous violence, is more justifiable than war, in which thousands go forth without any cause of personal quarrel, and massacre each other.
On Wednesday, April 21, I dined with him at Mr. Thrale's. A gentleman attacked Garrick for being vain. JOHNSON.
"No wonder, Sir, that he is vain; a man who is perpetually flattered in every mode that can be conceived. So many bellows have blown the fire, that one wonders he is not by this time become a cinder."
BOSWELL.
"And such bellows too. Lord Mansfield with his cheeks like to burst: Lord Chatham like an Aeolus. I have read such notes from them to him as were enough to turn his head."
JOHNSON.
"True. When he whom every body else flatters, flatters me, I then am truly happy."
MRS. THRALE.
"The sentiment is in Congreve, I think."
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Madam, in 'The Way of the World:'
'If there's delight in love, 'tis when I see
'That heart which others bleed for, bleed for me.'
No, Sir, I should not be surprized though Garrick chained the ocean, and lashed the winds."
BOSWELL.
"Should it not be, Sir, lashed the ocean and chained the winds?"
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; recollect the original:
'In Corum atque Eurum solitus saevire flagellis
'Barbarus, Aeolio nunquam hoc in carcere passos,
'Ipsum compedibus qui vinxerat Eunosigaeum."
This does very well, when both the winds and the sea are personified, and mentioned by their mythological names, as in Juvenal; but when they are mentioned in plain language, the application of the epithets suggested by me, is the most obvious; and accordingly my friend himself, in his imitation of the passage which describes Xerxes, has
"The waves he lashes, and enchains the wind."
The modes of living in different countries, and the various views with which men travel in quest of new scenes, having been talked of, a learned gentleman who holds a considerable office in the law, expatiated on the happiness of a savage life; and mentioned an instance of an officer who had actually lived for some time in the wilds of America, of whom, when in that state, he quoted this reflection with an air of admiration, as if it had been deeply philosophical:
"Here am I, free and unrestrained, amidst the rude magnificence of Nature, with this Indian woman by my side, and this gun, with which I can procure food when I want it: what more can be desired for human happiness?"
It did not require much sagacity to foresee that such a sentiment would not be permitted to pass without due animadversion. JOHNSON.
"Do not allow yourself, Sir, to be imposed upon by such gross absurdity. It is sad stuff; it is brutish. If a bull could speak, he might as well exclaim,—Here am I with this cow and this grass; what being can enjoy greater felicity?"
We talked of the melancholy end of a gentleman who had destroyed himself. JOHNSON.
"It was owing to imaginary difficulties in his affairs, which, had he talked with any friend, would soon have vanished."
BOSWELL.
"Do you think, Sir, that all who commit suicide are mad?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, they are often not universally disordered in their intellects, but one passion presses so upon them that they yield to it, and commit suicide, as a passionate man will stab another."
He added,
"I have often thought, that after a man has taken the resolution to kill himself, it is not courage in him to do any thing, however desperate, because he has nothing to fear."
GOLDSMITH.
"I don't see that."
JOHNSON.
"Nay but, my dear Sir, why should not you see what every one else sees?"
GOLDSMITH.
"It is for fear of something that he has resolved to kill himself; and will not that timid disposition restrain him?"
JOHNSON.
"It does not signify that the fear of something made him resolve; it is upon the state of his mind after the resolution is taken, that I argue. Suppose a man, either from fear, or pride, or conscience, or whatever motive, has resolved to kill himself; when once the resolution is taken, he has nothing to fear. He may then go and take the King of Prussia by the nose, at the head of his army. He cannot fear the rack, who is resolved to kill himself. When Eustace Budgel was walking down to the Thames determined to drown himself, he might, if he pleased, without any apprehension of danger, have turned aside, and first set fire to St. James's palace."
On Tuesday, April 27, Mr. Beauclerk and I called on him in the morning. As we walked up Johnson's-court, I said,
"I have a veneration for this court;"
and was glad to find that Beauclerk had the same reverential enthusiasm. We found him alone. We talked of Mr. Andrew Stuart's elegant and plausible Letters to Lord Mansfield; a copy of which had been sent by the authour to Dr. Johnson. JOHNSON.
"They have not answered the end. They have not been talked of: I have never heard of them. This is owing to their not being sold. People seldom read a book which is given to them; and few are given. The way to spread a work is to sell it at a low price. No man will send to buy a thing that costs even six-pence, without an intention to read it."
BOSWELL.
"May it not be doubted, Sir, whether it be proper to publish letters, arraigning the ultimate decision of an important cause by the supreme judicature of the nation?"
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir, I do not think it was wrong to publish these letters. If they are thought to do harm, why not answer them? But they will do no harm. If Mr. Douglas be indeed the son of Lady Jane, he cannot be hurt: if he be not her son, and yet has the great estate of the family of Douglas, he may well submit to have a pamphlet against him by Andrew Stuart. Sir, I think such a publication does good, as it does good to shew us the possibilities of human life. And, Sir, you will not say that the Douglas cause was a cause of easy decision, when it divided your Court as much as it could do, to be determined at all. When your Judges were seven and seven, the casting vote of the President must be given on one side or other; no matter, for my argument, on which; one or the other
must
be taken; as when I am to move, there is no matter which leg I move first. And then, Sir, it was otherwise determined here. No, Sir, a more dubious determination of any question cannot be imagined
I regretted that Dr. Johnson never took the trouble to study a question which interested nations. He would not even read a pamphlet which I wrote upon it, entitled
"The Essence of the Douglas Cause,"
which, I have reason to flatter myself, had considerable effect in favour of Mr. Douglas; of whose legitimate filiation I was then, and am still, firmly convinced. Let me add, that no fact can be more respectably ascertained, than by a judgement of the most august tribunal in the world; a judgement, in which Lord Mansfield and Lord Camden united in 1769, and from which only five of a numerous body entered a protest.
."
He said,
"Goldsmith should not be for ever attempting to shine in conversation: he has not temper for it, he is so much mortified when he fails. Sir, a game of jokes is composed partly of skill, partly of chance. A man may be beat at times by one who has not the tenth part of his wit. Now Goldsmith's putting himself against another, is like a man laying a hundred to one who cannot spare the hundred. It is not worth a man's while. A man should not lay a hundred to one, unless he can easily spare it, though he has a hundred chances for him: he can get but a guinea, and he may lose a hundred. Goldsmith is in this state. When he contends, if he gets the better, it is a very little addition to a man of his literary reputation: if he does not get the better, he is miserably vexed."
Johnson's own superlative power of wit set him above any risk of such uneasiness. Garrick had remarked to me of him, a few days before,
"Rabelais and all other wits are nothing compared with him. You may be diverted by them; but Johnson gives you a forcible hug, and shakes laughter out of you, whether you will or no."
Goldsmith, however, was often very fortunate in his witty contests, even when he entered the lists with Johnson himself. Sir Joshua Reynolds was in company with them one day, when Goldsmith said, that he thought he could write a good fable, mentioned the simplicity which that kind of composition requires, and observed, that in most fables the animals introduced seldom talk in character.
"For instance, (said he,) the fable of the little fishes, who saw birds fly over their heads, and envying them, petitioned Jupiter to be changed into birds. The skill (continued he,) consists in making them talk like little fishes."
While he indulged himself in this fanciful reverie, he observed Johnson shaking his sides, and laughing. Upon which he smartly proceeded,
"Why, Dr. Johnson, this is not so easy as you seem to think; for if you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like WHALES."
Johnson, though remarkable for his great variety of composition, never exercised his talents in fable, except we allow his beautiful tale published in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies to be of that species. I have, however, found among his manuscript collections the following sketch of one:
"Glow-worm lying in the garden saw a candle in a neighbouring palace,—and complained of the littleness of his own light;—another observed—wait a little;—soon dark;—have outlasted
[many]
of these glaring lights which only are brighter as they haste to nothing."
On Thursday, April 29, I dined with him at General Oglethorpe's, where were Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Langton, Dr. Goldsmith, and Mr. Thrale. I was very desirous to get Dr. Johnson absolutely fixed in his resolution to go with me to the Hebrides this year; and I told him that I had received a letter from Dr. Robertson the historian upon the subject, with which he was much pleased, and now talked in such a manner of his long-intended tour, that I was satisfied he meant to fulfil his engagement.
The custom of eating dogs at Otaheite being mentioned, Goldsmith observed, that this was also a custom in China; that a dog-butcher is as common there as any other butcher; and that when he walks abroad all the dogs fall on him. JOHNSON.
"That is not owing to his killing dogs, Sir. I remember a butcher at Lichfield, whom a dog that was in the house where I lived, always attacked. It is the smell of carnage which provokes this, let the animals he has killed be what they may."
GOLDSMITH.
"Yes, there is a general abhorrence in animals at the signs of massacre. If you put a tub full of blood into a stable, the horses are like to go mad."
JOHNSON.
"I doubt that."
GOLDSMITH.
"Nay, Sir, it is a fact well authenticated."
THRALE.
"You had better prove it before you put it into your book on natural history. You may do it in my stable if you will."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, I would not have him prove it. If he is content to take his information from others, he may get through his book with little trouble, and without much endangering his reputation. But if he makes experiments for so comprehensive a book as his, there would be no end to them; his erroneous assertions would then fall upon himself; and he might be blamed for not having made experiments as to every particular."
The character of Mallet having been introduced, and spoken of slightingly by Goldsmith; JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, Mallet had talents enough to keep his literary reputation alive as long as he himself lived; and that, let me tell you, is a good deal."
GOLDSMITH.
"But I cannot agree that it was so. His literary reputation was dead long before his natural death. I consider an authour's literary reputation to be alive only while his name will ensure a good price for his copy from the booksellers. I will get you (to Johnson,) a hundred guineas for any thing whatever that you shall write, if you put your name to it."
Dr. Goldsmith's new play,
"She stoops to conquer,"
being mentioned; JOHNSON.
"I know of no comedy for many years that has so much exhilarated an audience, that has answered so much the great end of comedy,—making an audience merry."
Goldsmith having said, that Garrick's compliment to the Queen, which he introduced into the play of 'The Chances,' which he had altered and revised this year, was mean and gross flattery;—JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, I would not
write,
I would not give solemnly under my hand a character beyond what I thought really true; but a speech on the stage, let it flatter ever so extravagantly, is formular. It has always been formular to flatter Kings and Queens; so much so, that even in our church-service we have 'our most religious King,' used indiscriminately, whoever is King. Nay, they even flatter themselves;—'we have been graciously pleased to grant.'—No modern flattery, however, is so gross as that of the Augustan age, where the Emperour was deified.
'Praesens Divus habebitur Augustus.'
And as to meanness, (rising into warmth,) how is it mean in a player,—a showman,—a fellow who exhibits himself for a shilling, to flatter his Queen? The attempt, indeed, was dangerous; for if it had missed, what became of Garrick, and what became of the Queen? As Sir William Temple says of a great General, it is necessary not only that his designs should be formed in a masterly manner, but that they should be attended with success. Sir, it is right, at a time when the Royal Family is not generally liked, to let it be seen that the people like at least one of them."
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
"I do not perceive why the profession of a player should be despised; for the great and ultimate end of all the employments of mankind is to produce amusement. Garrick produces more amusement than any body."
BOSWELL.
"You say, Dr. Johnson, that Garrick exhibits himself for a shilling. In this respect he is only on a footing with a lawyer who exhibits himself for his fee, and even will maintain any nonsense or absurdity, if the case requires it. Garrick refuses a play or a part which he does not like; a lawyer never refuses."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, what does this prove? only that a lawyer is worse. Boswell is now like Jack in 'The Tale of a Tub,' who, when he is puzzled by an argument, hangs himself. He thinks I shall cut him down, but I'll let him hang,"
(laughing vociferously.) SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
"Mr. Boswell thinks that the profession of a lawyer being unquestionably honourable, if he can shew the profession of a player to be more honourable, he proves his argument."
On Friday, April 30, I dined with him at Mr. Beauclerk's, where were Lord Charlemont, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and some more members of the Literary Club, whom he had obligingly invited to meet me, as I was this evening to be balloted for as candidate for admission into that distinguished society. Johnson had done me the honour to propose me, and Beauclerk was very zealous for me.
Goldsmith being mentioned;—JOHNSON.
"It is amazing how little Goldsmith knows. He seldom comes where he is not more ignorant than any one else."
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
"Yet there is no man whose company is more liked."
JOHNSON.
"To be sure, Sir. When people find a man of the most distinguished abilities as a writer, their inferiour while he is with them, it must be highly gratifying to them. What Goldsmith comically says of himself is very true,—he always gets the better when he argues alone;—meaning, that he is master of a subject in his study, and can write well upon it; but when he comes into company, grows confused, and unable to talk. Take him as a poet, his 'Traveller' is a very fine performance; aye, and so is his 'Deserted Village,' were it not sometimes too much the echo of his 'Traveller.' Whether, indeed, we take him as a poet,—as a comick writer,—or as an historian, he stands in the first class."
BOSWELL.
"An historian! My dear Sir, you surely will not rank his compilation of the Roman History with the works of other historians of this age?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, who are before him?"
BOSWELL.
"Hume,—Robertson,—Lord Lyttelton."
JOHNSON. (His antipathy to the Scotch beginning to rise,)
"I have not read Hume; but, doubtless, Goldsmith's History is better than the
verbiage
of Robertson, or the foppery of Dalrymple."
BOSWELL.
"Will you not admit the superiority of Robertson, in whose History we find such penetration,—such painting?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, you must consider how that penetration and that painting are employed. It is not history, it is imagination. He who describes what he never saw, draws from fancy. Robertson paints minds as Sir Joshua paints faces in a history-piece: he imagines an heroick countenance. You must look upon Robertson's work as romance, and try it by that standard. History it is not. Besides, Sir, it is the great excellence of a writer to put into his book as much as his book will hold. Goldsmith has done this in his History. Now Robertson might have put twice as much into his book. Robertson is like a man who has packed gold in wool: the wool takes up more room than the gold. No, Sir; I always thought Robertson would be crushed by his own weight,—would be buried under his own ornaments. Goldsmith tells you shortly all you want to know: Robertson detains you a great deal too long. No man will read Robertson's cumbrous detail a second time; but Goldsmith's plain narrative will please again and again. I would say to Robertson what an old tutor of a College said to one of his pupils: 'Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.' Goldsmith's abridgement is better than that of Lucius Florus or Eutropius; and I will venture to say, that if you compare him with Vertot, in the same places of the Roman History, you will find that he excels Vertot. Sir, he has the art of compiling, and of saying every thing he has to say in a pleasing manner. He is now writing a Natural History, and will make it as entertaining as a Persian Tale."
I cannot dismiss the present topick without observing, that it is probable that Dr. Johnson, who owned that he often
"talked for victory,"
rather urged plausible objections to Dr. Robertson's excellent historical works, in the ardour of contest, than expressed his real and decided opinion; for it is not easy to suppose, that he should so widely differ from the rest of the literary world.
JOHNSON.
"I remember once being with Goldsmith in Westminster-abbey. While we surveyed the Poets' Corner, I said to him,
'Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur istis
Ovid. de Art. Amand. 1. iii. v. 13.
.'
When we got to Temple-bar he stopped me, pointed to the heads upon it, and slily whispered me,
'Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur
ISTIS
In allusion to Dr. Johnson's supposed political principles, and perhaps his own.
."
Johnson praised John Bunyan highly.
"His 'Pilgrim's Progress' has great merit, both for invention, imagination, and the conduct of the story; and it has had the best evidence of its merit, the general and continued approbation of mankind. Few books, I believe, have had a more extensive sale. It is remarkable, that it begins very much like the poem of Dante; yet there was no translation of Dante when Bunyan wrote. There is reason to think that he had read Spencer."
A proposition which had been agitated, that monuments to eminent persons should, for the time to come, be erected in St. Paul's church as well as in Westminster-abbey, was mentioned; and it was asked, who should be honoured by having his monument first erected there. Somebody suggested Pope. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, as Pope was a Roman Catholick, I would not have his to be first. I think Milton's rather should have the precedence. I think more highly of him now than I did at twenty. There is more thinking in him and in Butler than in any of our poets."
Some of the company expressed a wonder why the authour of so excellent a book as
"The whole Duty of Man"
should conceal himself. JOHNSON.
"There may be different reasons assigned for this, any one of which would be very sufficient. He may have been a clergyman, and may have thought that his religious counsels would have less weight when known to come from a man whose profession was Theology. He may have been a man whose practice was not suitable to his principles; so that his character might injure the effect of his book, which he had written in a season of penitence. Or he may have been a man of rigid self-denial, so that he would have no reward for his pious labours while in this world, but refer it all to a future state."
The gentlemen went away to their club, and I was left at Beauclerk's till the fate of my election should be announced to me. In a short time I received the agreeable intelligence that I was chosen. I hastened to the place of meeting, and was introduced to such a society as can seldom be found. Mr. Edmund Burke, whom I then saw for the first time, and whose splendid talents had long made me ardently wish for his acquaintance; Dr. Nugent, Mr. Garrick, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. (now Sir William,) Jones, and the company with whom I had dined. Upon my entrance, Johnson placed himself behind a chair, on which he leaned as on a desk or pulpit, and with humorous formality gave me a
Charge,
pointing out the conduct expected from me as a good member of this club.
Goldsmith produced some very absurd verses which had been publickly recited to an audience for money. JOHNSON.
"I can match this nonsense. There was a poem called 'Eugenio,' which came out some years ago, and concluded thus:
'And now, ye trifling self-assuming elves,
'Brimful of pride, of nothing, of yourselves,
'Survey Eugenio, view him o'er and o'er,
'Then sink into yourselves, and be no more.'
Nay, Dryden in his poem on the Royal Society, has these lines:
'Then we upon our globe's last verge shall go,
'And see the ocean leaning on the sky;
'From thence our rolling neighbours we shall know,
'And on the lunar world securely pry."
Talking of puns, Johnson, who had a great contempt for that species of wit, deigned to allow that there was one good pun in
"Menagiana,"
I think on the word
corps.
Much pleasant conversation passed, which Johnson relished with great good humour. But his conversation alone, or what led to it, or was interwoven with it, is the business of this work.
On Saturday, May 1, we dined by ourselves at our old rendezvous, the Mitre tavern. He was placid, but not much disposed to talk. He observed, that
"The Irish mix better with the English than the Scotch do; their language is nearer to English; as a proof of which, they succeed very well as players, which Scotchmen do not. Then, Sir, they have not that extreme nationality which we find in the Scotch. I will do you, Boswell, the justice to say, that you are the most
unscottified
of your countrymen. You are almost the only instance of a Scotchman that I have known, who did not at every other sentence bring in some other Scotchman."
We drank tea with Mrs. Williams. I introduced a question which has been much agitated in the Church of Scotland, whether the claim of lay-patrons to present ministers to parishes be well founded; and supposing it to be well founded, whether it ought to be exercised without the concurrence of the people? That Church is composed of a series of judicatures: a Presbytery,—a Synod,—and, finally, a General Assembly; before all of which, this matter may be contended: and in some cases the Presbytery having refused to induct or
settle,
as they call it, the person presented by the patron, it has been found necessary to appeal to the General Assembly. He said, I might see the subject well treated in the
"Defence of Pluralities;"
and although he thought that a patron should exercise his right with tenderness to the inclinations of the people of a parish, he was very clear as to his right. Then supposing the question to be pleaded before the General Assembly, he dictated to me what follows:
AGAINST the right of patrons is commonly opposed, by the inferiour judicatures, the plea of conscience. Their conscience tells them, that the people ought to choose their pastor; their conscience tells them that they ought not to impose upon a congregation a minister ungrateful and unacceptable to his auditors. Conscience is nothing more than a conviction felt by ourselves of something to be done, or something to be avoided; and, in questions of simple unperplexed morality, conscience is very often a guide that may be trusted. But before conscience can determine, the state of the question is supposed to be completely known. In questions of law, or of fact, conscience is very often confounded with opinion. No man's conscience can tell him the rights of another man: they must be known by rational investigation or historical enquiry. Opinion, which he that holds it may call his conscience, may teach some men that religion would be promoted, and quiet preserved, by granting to the people universally the choice of their ministers. But it is a conscience very ill informed that violates the rights of one man, for the convenience of another. Religion cannot be promoted by injustice: and it was never yet found that a popular election was very quietly transacted.
That justice would be violated by transferring to the people the right of patronage, is apparent to all who know whence that right had its original. The right of patronage was not at first a privilege torne by power from unresisting poverty. It is not an authority at first usurped in times of ignorance, and established only by succession and by precedents. It is not a grant capriciously made from a higher tyrant to a lower. It is a right dearly purchased by the first possessors, and justly inherited by those that succeeded them. When Christianity was established in this island, a regular mode of publick worship was prescribed. Publick worship requires a publick place; and the proprietors of lands, as they were converted, built churches for their families and their vassals. For the maintenance of ministers, they settled a certain portion of their lands; and a district, through which each minister was required to extend his care, was, by that circumscription, constituted a parish. This is a position so generally received in England, that the extent of a manor and of a parish are regularly received for each other. The churches which the proprietors of lands had thus built and thus endowed, they justly thought themselves entitled to provide with ministers; and where the episcopal government prevails, the Bishop has no power to reject a man nominated by the patron, but for some crime that might exclude him from the priesthood. For the endowment of the church being the gift of the landlord, he was consequently at liberty to give it according to his choice, to any man capable of performing the holy offices. The people did not choose him, because the people did not pay him.
We hear it sometimes urged, that this original right is passed out of memory, and is obliterated and obscured by many translations of property and changes of government; that scarce any church is now in the hands of the heirs of the builders; and that the present persons have entered subsequently upon the pretended rights by a thousand accidental and unknown causes. Much of this, perhaps, is true. But how is the right of patronage extinguished? If the right followed the lands, it is possessed by the same equity by which the lands are possessed. It is, in effect, part of the manor, and protected by the same laws with every other privilege. Let us suppose an estate forfeited by treason, and granted by the Crown to a new family. With the lands were forfeited all the rights appendant to those lands; by the same power that grants the lands, the rights also are granted. The right lost to the patron falls not to the people, but is either retained by the Crown, or, what to the people is the same thing, is by the Crown given away. Let it change hands ever so often, it is possessed by him that receives it with the same right as it was conveyed. It may, indeed, like all our possessions, be forcibly seized or fraudulently obtained. But no injury is still done to the people; for what they never had, they have never lost. Caius may usurp the right of Titius; but neither Caius nor Titius injure the people: and no man's conscience, however tender or however active, can prompt him to restore what may be proved to have been never taken away. Supposing, what I think cannot be proved, that a popular election of ministers were to be desired, our desires are not the measure of equity. It were to be desired that power should be only in the hands of the merciful, and riches in the possession of the generous; but the law must leave both riches and power where it finds them; and must often leave riches with the covetous, and power with the cruel. Convenience may be a rule in little things, where no other rule has been established. But as the great end of government is to give every man his own, no inconvenience is greater than that of making right uncertain. Nor is any man more an enemy to publick peace, than he who fills weak heads with imaginary claims, and breaks the series of civil subordination, by inciting the lower classes of mankind to encroach upon the higher.
Having thus shewn that the right of patronage, being originally purchased, may be legally transferred, and that it is now in the hands of lawful possessors, at least as certainly as any other right, we have left to the advocates of the people no other plea than that of convenience. Let us, therefore, now consider what the people would really gain by a general abolition of the right of patronage. What is most to be desired by such a change is, that the country should be supplied with better ministers. But why should we suppose that the parish will make a wiser choice than the patron? If we suppose mankind actuated by interest, the patron is more likely to choose with caution, because he will suffer more by choosing wrong. By the deficiencies of his minister, or by his vices, he is equally offended with the rest of the congregation; but he will have this reason more to lament them, that they will be imputed to his absurdity or corruption. The qualifications of a minister are well known to be learning and piety. Of his learning the patron is probably the only judge in the parish; and of his piety not less a judge than others; and is more likely to inquire minutely and diligently before he gives a presentation, than one of the parochial rabble, who can give nothing but a vote. It may be urged, that though the parish might not choose better ministers, they would at least choose ministers whom they like better, and who would therefore officiate with greater efficacy. That ignorance and perverseness should always obtain what they like, was never considered as the end of government; of which it is the great and standing benefit, that the wise see for the simple, and the regular act for the capricious. But that this argument supposes the people capable of judging, and resolute to act according to their best judgements, though this be sufficiently absurd, is not all its absurdity. It supposes not only wisdom, but unanimity in those, who upon no other occasions are unanimous or wise. If by some strange concurrence all the voices of a parish should unite in the choice of any single man, though I could not charge the patron with injustice for presenting a minister, I should censure him as unkind and injudicious. But, it is evident, that as in all other popular elections there will be contrariety of judgement and acrimony of passion, a parish upon every vacancy would break into factions, and the contest for the choice of a minister would set neighbours at variance and bring discord into families. The minister would be taught all the arts of a candidate, would flatter some and bribe others; and the electors, as in all other cases, would call for holidays and ale, and break the heads of each other during the jollity of the canvas. The time must, however, come at last, when one of the factions must prevail, and one of the ministers get possession of the church. On what terms does he enter upon his ministry but those of enmity with half his parish? By what prudence or what diligence can he hope to conciliate the affections of that party by whose defeat he has obtained his living? Every man who voted against him will enter the church with hanging head and downcast eyes, afraid to encounter that neighbour by whose vote and influence he has been overpowered. He will hate his neighbour for opposing him, and his minister for having prospered by the opposition; and, as he will never see him but with pain, he will never see him but with hatred. Of a minister presented by the patron, the parish has seldom any thing worse to say than that they do not know him. Of a minister chosen by a popular contest, all those who do not favour him have nursed up in their bosoms principles of hatred and reasons of rejection. Anger is excited principally by pride. The pride of a common man is very little exasperated by the supposed usurpation of an acknowledged superiour. He bears only his little share of a general evil, and suffers in common with the whole parish: but when the contest is between equals, the defeat has many aggravations; and he that is defeated by his next neighbour is seldom satisfied without some revenge: and it is hard to say what bitterness of malignity would prevail in a parish where these elections should happen to be frequent, and the enmity of opposition should be re-kindled before it had cooled.
Though I present to my readers Dr. Johnson's masterly thoughts on this subject, I think it proper to declare, that notwithstanding I am myself a laypatron, I do not entirely subscribe to his opinion.
On Friday, May 7, I breakfasted with him at Mr. Thrale's in the Boro
gh. While we were alone, I endeavoured as well as I could to apologise for a lady who had been divorced from her husband by act of parliament. I said, that he had used her very ill, had behaved brutally to her, and that she could not continue to live with him without having her delicacy contaminated; that all affection for him was thus destroyed; that the essence of conjugal union being gone, there remained only a cold form, a mere civil obligation; that she was in the prime of life, with qualities to produce happiness; that these ought not to be lost; and, that the gentleman on whose account she was divorced had gained her heart while thus unhappily situated. Seduced, perhaps, by the charms of the lady in question, I thus attempted to palliate what I was sensible could not be justified; for, when I had finished my harangue, my venerable friend gave me a proper check:
"My dear Sir, never accustom your mind to mingle virtue and vice. The woman's a whore, and there's an end on't."
He described the father of one of his friends thus:
"Sir, he was so exuberant a talker at publick meetings, that the gentlemen of his county were afraid of him. No business could be done for his declamation."
He did not give me full credit when I mentioned that I had carried on a short conversation by signs with some Esquimaux, who were then in London, particularly with one of them who was a priest. He thought I could not make them understand me. No man was more incredulous as to particular facts, which were at all extraordinary; and therefore no man was more scrupulously inquisitive, in order to discover the truth.
I dined with him this day at the house of my friends, Messieurs Edward and Charles Dilly, booksellers in the Poultry: there were present, their elder brother Mr. Dilly of Bedfordshire, Dr. Goldsmith, Mr. Langton, Mr. Claxton, Reverend Dr. Mayo a dissenting minister, the Reverend Mr. Toplady, and my friend the Reverend Mr. Temple.
Hawkesworth's compilation of the voyages to the South Sea being mentioned;—JOHNSON.
"Sir, if you talk of it as a subject of commerce, it will be gainful; if as a book that is to increase human knowledge, I believe there will not be much of that. Hawkesworth can tell only what the voyagers have told him, and they have found very little, only one new animal, I think."
BOSWELL.
"But many insects, Sir."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, as to insects, Ray reckons of British insects twenty thousand species. They might have have staid at home and discovered enough in that way."
Talking of birds, I mentioned Mr. Daines Barrington's ingenious Essay against the received notion of their migration. JOHNSON.
"I think we have as good evidence for the migration of woodcocks as can be desired. We find they disappear at a certain time of the year, and appear again at a certain time of the year; and some of them, when weary in their flight, have been known to alight on the rigging of ships far out at sea."
One of the company observed, that there had been instances of some of them found in summer in Essex. JOHNSON.
"Sir, that strengthens our argument.
Exceptio probat regulam.
Some being found shews, that, if all remained, many would be found. A few sick or lame ones may be found."
GOLDSMITH.
"There is a partial migration of the swallows; the stronger ones migrate, the others do not."
BOSWELL.
"I am well assured that the people of Otaheite who have the bread-tree, the fruit of which serves them for bread, laughed heartily when they were informed of the tedious process necessary with us to have bread;—plowing, sowing, harrowing, reaping, threshing, grinding, baking."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, all ignorant savages will laugh when they are told of the advantages of civilized life. Were you to tell men who live without houses, how we pile brick upon brick and rafter upon rafter, and that after a house is raised to a certain height, a man tumbles off a scaffold and breaks his neck, he would laugh heartily at our folly in building; but it does not follow that men are better without houses. No, Sir, (holding up a slice of a good loaf,) this is better than the bread-tree."
He repeated an argument, which is to be found in his
"Rambler,"
against the notion that the brute creation is endowed with the faculty of reason:
"birds build by instinct; they never improve: they build their first nest as well as any one that they ever build."
GOLDSMITH.
"Yet we see if you take away a bird's nest with the eggs in it, she will make a slighter nest and lay again."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, that is because at first she has full time, and makes her nest deliberately. In the case you mention she is pressed to lay, and must therefore make her nest quickly, and consequently it will be slight."
GOLDSMITH.
"The nidification of birds is what is least known in natural history, though one of the most curious things in it."
I introduced the subject of toleration. JOHNSON.
"Every society has a right to preserve publick peace and order, and therefore has a good right to prohibit the propagation of opinions which have a dangerous tendency. To say the
magistrate
has this right, is using an inadequate word: it is the
society
for which the magistrate is agent. He may be morally or theologically wrong in restraining the propagation of opinions which he thinks dangerous, but he is politically right."
MAYO.
"I am of opinion, Sir, that every man is entitled to liberty of conscience in religion; and that the magistrate cannot restrain that right."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, I agree with you. Every man has a right to liberty of conscience, and with that the magistrate cannot interfere. People confound liberty of thinking with liberty of talking; nay, with liberty of preaching. Every man has a physical right to think as he pleases; for it cannot be discovered how he thinks. He has not a moral right; for he ought to inform himself and think justly. But, Sir, no member of a society has a right to
teach
any doctrine contrary to what that society holds to be true. The magistrate, I say, may be wrong in what he thinks; but, while he thinks himself right, he may, and ought to enforce what he thinks."
MAYO.
"Then, Sir, we are to remain always in errour, and truth never can prevail; and the magistrate was right in persecuting the first Christians."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, the only method by which religious truth can be established is by martyrdom. The magistrate has a right to enforce what he thinks; and he who is conscious of the truth has a right to suffer. I am afraid there is no other way of ascertaining the truth, but by persecution on the one hand and enduring it on the other."
GOLDSMITH.
"But how is a man to act, Sir? Though firmly convinced of the truth of his doctrine, may he not think it wrong to expose himself to persecution? Has he a right to do so? Is it not, as it were, committing voluntary suicide?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, as to voluntary suicide, as you call it, there are twenty thousand men in an army who will go without scruple to be shot at, and mount a breach for five-pence a day."
GOLDSMITH.
"But have they a moral right to do this?"
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, if you will not take the universal opinion of mankind, I have nothing to say. If mankind cannot defend their own way of thinking, I cannot defend it. Sir, if a man is in doubt whether it would be better for him to expose himself to martyrdom or not, he should not do it. He must be convinced that he has a delegation from heaven."
GOLDSMITH.
"I would consider whether there is the greater chance of good or evil upon the whole. If I see a man who has fallen into a well, I would wish to help him out; but if there is a greater probability that he shall pull me in, than that I shall pull him out, I would not attempt it. So were I to go to Turkey, I might wish to convert the Grand Signor to the Christian faith; but when I considered that I should probably be put to death without effectuating my purpose in any degree, I should keep myself quiet."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, you must consider that we have perfect and imperfect obligations. Perfect obligations, which are generally not to do something, are clear and positive; as, 'thou shalt not kill.' But charity, for instance, is not definable by limits. It is a duty to give to the poor; but no man can say how much another should give to the poor, or when a man has given too little to save his soul. In the same manner, it is a duty to instruct the ignorant, and of consequence to convert infidels to Christianity; but no man in the common course of things is obliged to carry this to such a degree as to incur the danger of martyrdom, as no man is obliged to strip himself to the shirt in order to give charity. I have said, that a man must be persuaded that he has a particular delegation from heaven."
GOLDSMITH.
"How is this to be known? Our first reformers, who were burnt for not believing bread and wine to be CHRIST."
—JOHNSON. (interrupting him,)
"Sir, they were not burnt for not believing bread and wine to be CHRIST, but for insulting those who did believe it. And, Sir, when the first reformers began, they did not intend to be martyred: as many of them ran away as could."
BOSWELL.
"But, Sir, there was your countryman, Elwal, who you told me challenged King George with his black-guards and his red-guards."
JOHNSON.
"My countryman, Elwal, Sir, should have been put in the stocks; a proper pulpit for him, and he'd have had a numerous audience. A man who preaches in the stocks will always have hearers enough."
BOSWELL.
"But Elwal thought himself in the right."
JOHNSON.
"We are not providing for mad people; there are places for them in the neighbourhood,"
(meaning Moorfields.) MAYO.
"But, Sir, is it not very hard that I should not be allowed to teach my children what I really believe to be the truth?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, you might contrive to teach your children
extrà scandalum;
but, Sir, the magistrate, if he knows it, has a right to restrain you. Suppose you teach your children to be thieves?"
MAYO.
"This is making a joke of the subject."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, take it thus:—that you teach them the community of goods, for which there are as many plausible arguments as for most erroneous doctrines. You teach them that all things at first were in common, and that no man had a right to any thing but as he laid his hands upon it; and that this still is, or ought to be, the rule amongst mankind. Here, Sir, you sap a great principle in society,—property. And don't you think the magistrate would have a right to prevent you? Or, suppose you should teach your children the notions of the Adamites, and they should run naked into the streets, would not the magistrate have a right to flog 'em into their doublets?"
MAYO.
"I think the magistrate has no right to interfere till there is some overt act."
BOSWELL.
"So, Sir, though he sees an enemy to the state charging a blunderbuss, he is not to interfere till it is fired off."
MAYO.
"He must be sure of its direction against the state."
JOHNSON.
"The magistrate is to judge of that.—He has no right to restrain your thinking, because the evil centers in yourself. If a man were sitting at this table, and chopping off his fingers, the magistrate, as guardian of the community, has no authority to restrain him, however he might do it from kindness as a parent.—Though, indeed, upon more consideration, I think he may; as it is probable that he who is chopping off his own fingers, may soon proceed to chop off those of other people. If I think it right to steal Mr. Dilly's plate, I am a bad man; but he can say nothing to me. If I make an open declaration that I think so, he will keep me out of his house. If I put forth my hand, I shall be sent to Newgate. This is the gradation of thinking, preaching, and acting: if a man thinks erroneously, he may keep his thoughts to himself, and nobody will trouble him; if he p
eaches erroneous doctrine, society may expel him; if he acts in consequence of it, the law takes place, and he is hanged."
MAYO.
"But, Sir, ought not Christians to have liberty of conscience?"
JOHNSON.
"I have already told you so, Sir. You are coming back to where you were."
BOSWELL.
"Dr. Mayo is always taking a return post-chaise, and going the stage over again. He has it at half price."
JOHNSON.
"Dr. Mayo, like other champions for unlimited toleration, has got a set of words
Dr. Mayo's calm temper and steady perseverance, rendered him an admirable subject for the exercise of Dr. Johnson's powerful abilities. He never flinched; but, after reiterated blows, remained seemingly unmoved as at the first. The scintillations of Johnson's genius flashed every time he was struck, without his receiving any injury. Hence he obtained the epithet of THE LITERARY ANVIL.
. Sir, it is no matter, politically, whether the magistrate be right or wrong. Suppose a club were to be formed to drink confusion to King George the Third, and a happy restoration to Charles the Third; this would be very bad with respect to the state; but every member of that club must either conform to its rules, or be turned out of it. Old Baxter, I remember, maintains, that the magistrate should 'tolerate all things that are tolerable.' This is no good definition of toleration upon any principle; but it shews that he thought some things were not tolerable."
TOPLADY.
"Sir, you have untwisted this difficult subject with great dexterity."
During this argument, Goldsmith sat in restless agitation, from a wish to get in, and shine. Finding himself excluded, he had taken his hat to go away, but remained for some time with it in his hand, like a gamester, who at the close of a long night, lingers for a little while, to see if he can have a favourable opening to finish with success. Once when he was beginning to speak, he found himself overpowered by the loud voice of Johnson, who was at the opposite end of the table, and did not perceive Goldsmith's attempt. Thus disappointed of his wish to obtain the attention of the company, Goldsmith in a passion threw down his hat, looking angrily at Johnson, and exclaiming in a bitter tone,
"Take it."
When Toplady was going to speak, Johnson uttered some sound, which led Goldsmith to think that he was beginning again, and taking the words from Toplady. Upon which, he seized this opportunity of venting his own envy and spleen, under the pretext of supporting another person:
"Sir, (said he to Johnson,) the gentleman has heard you patiently for an hour; pray allow us now to hear him."
JOHNSON. (sternly,)
"Sir, I was not interrupting the gentleman. I was only giving him a signal of my attention. Sir, you are impertinent."
Goldsmith made no reply, but continued in the company for some time.
A gentleman present ventured to ask Dr. Johnson if there was not a material difference as to toleration of opinions which lead to action, and opinions merely speculative; for instance, would it be wrong in the magistrate to tolerate those who preach against the doctrine of the TRINITY. Johnson was highly offended, and said,
"I wonder, Sir, how a gentleman of your piety can introduce this subject in a mixed company."
He told me afterwards, that the impropriety was, that perhaps some of the company might have talked on the subject in such terms as would have shocked him; or he might have been forced to appear in their eyes a narrow-minded man. The gentleman, with submissive deference, said, he had only hinted at the question from a desire to hear Dr. Johnson's opinion upon it. JOHNSON.
"Why then, Sir, I think that permitting men to preach any opinion contrary to the doctrine of the established church, tends, in a certain degree, to lessen the authority of the church, and, consequently, to lessen the influence of religion."
"It may be considered, (said the gentleman,) whether it would not be politick to tolerate in such a case."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, we have been talking of
right:
this is another question.
I
think it is
not
politick to tolerate in such a case."
Though he did not think it fit that so aweful a subject should be introduced in a mixed company, and therefore at this time waved the theological question; yet his own orthodox belief in the sacred mystery of the TRINITY is evinced beyond doubt, by the following passage in his private devotions:
"O LORD, hear my prayers, for JESUS CHRIST'S sake; to whom with thee and the HOLY GHOST,
three persons and one
GOD, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen
Prayers and Meditations, p. 40.
."
BOSWELL.
"Pray, Mr. Dilly, how does Dr. Leland's 'History of Ireland' sell?"
JOHNSON. (Bursting forth with a generous indignation,)
"The Irish are in a most unnatural state; for we see there the minority prevailing over the majority. There is no instance, even in the ten persecutions, of such severity as that which the Protestants of Ireland have exercised against the Catholicks. Did we tell them we have conquered them, it would be above board: to punish them by confiscation and other penalties, as rebels, was monstrous injustice. King William was not their lawful sovereign: he had not been acknowledged by the parliament of Ireland, when they appeared in arms against him."
I here suggested something favourable of the Roman Catholicks. TOPLADY.
"Does not their invocation of saints suppose omnipresence in the saints?"
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; it supposes only pluripresence; and when spirits are divested of matter, it seems probable that they should see with more extent than when in an embodied state. There is, therefore, no approach to an invasion of any of the divine attributes, in the invocation of saints. But I think it is will-worship, and presumption. I see no command for it, and therefore think it is safer not to practise it."
He and Mr. Langton and I went together to the Club, where we found Mr. Burke, Mr. Garrick, and some other members, and amongst them our friend Goldsmith, who sat silently brooding over Johnson's reprimand to him after dinner. Johnson perceived this, and said aside to some of us,
"I'll make Goldsmith forgive me;"
and then called to him in a loud voice,
"Dr. Goldsmith,—something passed to-day where you and I dined; I ask your pardon."
Goldsmith answered placidly,
"It must be much from you, Sir, that I take ill."
And so at once the difference was over, and they were on as easy terms as ever, and Goldsmith rattled away as usual.
In our way to the club to-night, when I regretted that Goldsmith would, upon every occasion, endeavour to shine, by which he often exposed himself, Mr. Langton observed, that he was not like Addison, who was content with the fame of his writings, and did not aim also at excellency in conversation, for which he found himself unfit; and that he said to a lady, who complained of his having talked little in company,
"Madam, I have but nine-pence in ready money, but I can draw for a thousand pounds."
I observed, that Goldsmith had a great deal of gold in his cabinet, but, not content with that, was always taking out his purse. JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir, and that so often an empty purse!"
Goldsmith's incessant desire of being conspicuous in company, was the occasion of his sometimes appearing to such disadvantage as one should hardly have supposed possible in a man of his genius. When his literary reputation had risen deservedly high, and his society was much courted, he became very jealous of the extraordinary attention which was every where paid to Johnson. One evening, in a circle of wits, he found fault with me for talking of Johnson as entitled to the honour of unquestionable superiority.
"Sir, (said he,) you are for making a monarchy of what should be a republick."
He was still more mortified, when talking in a company with fluent vivacity, and, as he flattered himself, to the admiration of all who were present; a German who sat next him, and perceived Johnson rolling himself, as if about to speak, suddenly stopped him, saying,
"Stay, stay,—Toctor Shonson is going to say something."
This was, no doubt, very provoking, especially to one so irritable as Goldsmith, who frequently mentioned it with strong expressions of indignation.
It may also be observed, that Goldsmith was sometimes content to be treated with an easy familiarity, but, upon occasions, would be consequential and important. An instance of this occurred in a small particular. Johnson had a way of contracting the names of his friends; as, Beauclerk, Beau; Boswell, Bozzy; Langton, Lanky; Murphy, Mur; Sheridan, Sherry. I remember one day, when Tom Davies was telling that Dr. Johnson said,
"We are all in labour for a name to
Goldy
's play,"
Goldsmith seemed displeased that such a liberty should be taken with his name, and said,
"I have often desired him not to call me
Goldy."
Tom was remarkably attentive to the most minute circumstance about Johnson. I recollect his telling me once, on my arrival in London,
"Sir, our great friend has made an improvement on his appellation of old Mr. Sheridan. He calls him now
Sherry derry."
To the Reverend Mr.
BAGSHAW,
at Bromley
The Reverend Thomas Bagshaw, M. A. who died on November 20, 1787, in the seventy-seven
h year of his age, Chaplain of Bromley College, in Kent, and Rector of South
ee
. He had resigned the cure of Bromley parish some time before his death. For this, and another letter from Dr. Johnson in 1784, to the same truly respectable man, I am indebted to Dr. John Loveday, of the Commons, who has obligingly transcribed them for me from the originals in his posse
o
.
.
SIR,
I RETURN you my sincere thanks for your additions to my Dictionary; but the new edition has been published some time, and therefore I cannot now make use of them. Whether I shall ever revise it more, I know not. If many readers had been as judicious, as diligent, and as communicative as yourself, my work had been better. The world must at present take it as it is.
I am, Sir, Your most obliged And most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
May 8, 1773.
On Sunday, May 8, I dined with Johnson at Mr. Langton's, with Dr. Beattie and some other company. He descanted on the subject of Literary Property.
"There seems, (said he,) to be in authours a stronger right of property than that by occupancy; a metaphysical right, a right, as it were, of creation, which should from its nature be perpetual; but the consent of nations is against it, and indeed reason and the interests of learning are against it; for were it to be perpetual, no book, however useful, could be universally diffused amongst mankind, should the proprietor take it into his head to restrain its circulation. No book could have the advantage of being edited with notes, however necessary to its elucidation, should the proprietor perversely oppose it. For the general good of the world, therefore, whatever valuable work has once been created by an authour, and issued out by him, should be understood as no longer in his power, but as belonging to the publick; at the same time the authour is entitled to an adequate reward. This he should have by an exclusive right to his work for a considerable number of years."
He attacked Lord Monboddo's strange speculation on the primitive state of human nature; observing,
"Sir, it is all conjecture about a thing useless, even were it known to be true. Knowledge of all kinds is good. Conjecture, as to things useful, is good; but conjecture as to what it would be useless to know, such as whether men ever went upon all four, is very idle."
On Monday, May 9, as I was to set out on my return to Scotland next morning, I was desirous to see as much of Dr. Johnson as I could. But I first called on Goldsmith to take leave of him. The jealousy and envy which, though possessed of many most amiable qualities, he frankly avowed, broke out violently at this interview. Upon another occasion, when Goldsmith confessed himself to be of an envious disposition, I contended with Johnson that we ought not to be angry with him, he was so candid in owning it.
"Nay, Sir, (said Johnson,) we must be angry that a man has such a superabundance of an odious quality that he cannot keep it within his own breast, but it boils over."
In my opinion, however, Goldsmith had not more of it than other people have, but only talked of it freely.
He now seemed very angry that Johnson was going to be a traveller; said,
"he would be a dead weight for me to carry, and that I should never be able to lug him along through the Highlands and Hebrides."
Nor would he patiently allow me to enlarge upon Johnson's wonderful abilities; but exclaimed,
"Is he like Burke, who winds into a subject like a serpent?"
"But, (said I,) Johnson is the Hercules who strangled serpents in his cradle."
I dined with Dr. Johnson at General Paoli's. He was obliged, by incifposition, to leave the company early; he appointed me, however, to meet him in the evening at Mr. (now Sir Robert,) Chambers's in the Temple, where he accordingly came, though he continued to be very ill. Chambers, as is common on such occasions, prescribed various remedies to him. JOHNSON. (fretted by pain,)
"Pr'ythee don't teaze me. Stay till I am well, and then you shall tell me how to cure myself."
He grew better, and talked with a noble enthusiasm of keeping up the representation of respectable families. His zeal on this subject was a circumstance in his character exceedingly remarkable, when it is considered that he himself had no pretensions to blood. I heard him once say,
"I have great merit in being zealous for subordination and the honours of birth; for I can hardly tell who was my grandfather."
He maintained the dignity and propriety of male succession, in opposition to the opinion of one of our friends, who had that day employed Mr. Chambers to draw his will, devising his estate to his three sisters, in preference to a remote heir male. Johnson called them three
dowdies,
and said, with as high a spirit as the boldest Baron in the most perfect days of the feudal system,
"An ancient estate should always go to males. It is mighty foolish to let a stranger have it, because he marries your daughter, and takes your name. As for an estate newly acquired by trade, you may give it, if you will, to the dog
Towzer,
and let him keep his
own
name."
I have known him at times exceedingly diverted at what seemed to others a very small sport. He now laughed immoderately, without any reason that we could perceive, at our friend's making his will; called him the
testator,
and added,
"I dare say, he thinks he has done a mighty thing. He won't stay till he gets home to his seat in the country, to produce this wonderful deed: he'll call up the landlord of the first inn on the road; and, after a suitable preface upon mortality and the uncertainty of life, will tell him that he should not delay making his will; and here, Sir, will he say, is my will, which I have just made, with the assistance of one of the ablest lawyers in the kingdom; and he will read it to him (laughing all the time). He believes he has made this will; but he did not make it: you, Chambers, made it for him. I trust you have had more conscience than to make him say, 'being of sound understanding;' ha, ha, ha! I hope he has left me a legacy. I'd have his will turned into verse, like a ballad."
In this playful manner did he run on, exulting in his own pleasantry, which certainly was not such as might be expected from the authour of
"The Rambler,"
but which is here preserved, that my readers may be acquainted even with the slightest occasional characteristicks of so eminent a man.
Mr. Chambers did not by any means relish this jocularity upon a matter of which
pars magna fuit,
and seemed impatient till he got rid of us. Johnson could not stop his merriment, but continued it all the way till we got without the Temple-gate. He then burst into such a fit of laughter, that he appeared to be almost in a convulsion; and, in order to support himself, laid hold of one of the posts at the side of the foot-pavement, and sent forth peals so loud, that in the silence of the night his voice seemed to resound from Temple-bar to Fleet-ditch.
This most ludicrous exhibition of the aweful, melancholy, and venerable Johnson, happened well to counteract the feelings of sadness which I used to experience when parting with him for a considerable time. I accompanied him to his door, where he gave me his blessing.
He records of himself this year,
"Between Easter and Whitsuntide, having always considered that time as propitious to study, I attempted to learn the Low Dutch language
Prayers and Meditations, p. 129.
."
It is to be observed, that he here admits an opinion of the human mind being influenced by seasons, which he ridicules in his writings. His progress, he says,
"was interrupted by a fever, which, by the imprudent use of a small print, left an inflammation in his useful eye."
We cannot but admire his spirit when we know, that amidst a complication of bodily and mental distress, he was still animated with the desire of intellectual improvement. Various notes of his studies appear on different days, in his manuscript diary of this year; such as,
"Inchoavi lectionem Pentateuchi—Finivi lectionem Conf. Fab. Burdonum.—Legi primum actum Troadum.—Legi Dissertationem Clerici postremam de Pent.
—2
of Clark's Sermons.—L. Appolonii pugnam Betriciam.—L. centum versus Homeri."
Let this serve as a specimen of what accessions of literature he was perpetually infusing into his mind, while he charged himself with idleness.
This year died Mrs. Salusbury, (mother of Mrs. Thrale,) a lady whom he appears to have esteemed much, and whose memory he honoured with an Epitaph
Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes of Johnson, p. 131.
.
In a letter from Edinburgh, dated the 29th of May, I pressed him to persevere in his resolution to make this year the projected visit to the Hebrides, of which he and I had talked for many years, and which I was confident would afford us much entertainment.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
WHEN your letter came to me, I was so darkened by an inflammation in my eye, that I could not for some time read it. I can now write without trouble, and can read large prints. My eye is gradually growing stronger; and I hope will be able to take some delight in the survey of a Caledonian loch.
Chambers is going a Judge, with six thousand a year, to Bengal. He and I shall come down together as far as Newcastle, and thence I shall easily get to Edinburgh. Let me know the exact time when your Courts intermit. I must conform a little to Chambers's occasions, and he must conform a little to mine. The time which you shall fix, must be the common point to which we will come as near as we can. Except this eye, I am very well.
Beattie is so caressed, and invited, and treated, and liked, and flattered, by the great, that I can see nothing of him. I am in great hope that he will be well provided for, and then we will live upon him at the Marischal College, without pity or modesty.
—left the town without taking leave of me, and is gone in deep dudgeon to—. Is not this very childish? Where is now my legacy?
I hope your dear lady and her dear baby are both well. I shall see them too when I come; and I have that opinion of your choice, as to suspect that when I have seen Mrs. Boswell, I shall be less willing to go away.
I am, dear Sir, Your affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Johnson's-court, Fleet-street,
July 5, 1773.
Write to me as soon as you can. Chambers is now at Oxford.
I again wrote to him, informing him that the Court of Session rose on the twelfth of August, hoping to see him before that time, and expressing, perhaps in too extravagant terms, my admiration of him, and my expectation of pleasure from our intended tour.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
I SHALL set out from London on Friday the sixth of this month, and purpose not to loiter much by the way. Which day I shall be at Edinburgh, I cannot exactly tell. I suppose I must drive to an inn, and send a porter to find you.
I am afraid Beattie will not be at his College soon enough for us, and I shall be sorry to miss him; but there is no staying for the concurrence of all conveniences. We will do as well as we can.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
August 3, 1773.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
NOT being at Mr. Thrale's when your letter came, I had written the inclosed paper and sealed it; bringing it hither for a frank, I found yours. If any thing could repress my ardour, it would be such a letter as yours. To disappoint a friend is unpleasing: and he that forms expectations like yours, must be disappointed. Think only when you see me, that you see a man who loves you, and is proud and glad that you love him.
I am, Sir, Your most affectionate SAM. JOHNSON.
August 3, 1773.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
Newcastle,
Aug. 11, 1771.
I CAME hither last night, and hope, but do not absolutely promise, to be in Edinburgh on Saturday. Beattie will not come so soon.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
My compliments to your lady.
To the same.
MR. JOHNSON sends his compliments to Mr. Boswell, being just arrived at Boyd's.
Saturday night.
His stay in Scotland was from the 18th of August, on which day he arrived, till the 22d of November, when he set out on his return to London; and I believe ninety-four days were never passed by any man in a more vigorous exertion.
He came by the way of Berwick upon Tweed to Edinburgh, where he remained a few days, and then went by St. Andrew's, Aberdeen, Inverness, and Fort Augustus, to the Hebrides, to visit which was the principal object he had in view. He visited the isles of Sky, Rasay, Col, Mull, Inchkenneth, and Icolmkill. He travelled through Argyleshire by Inveraray, and from thence by Lochlomond and Dunbarton to Glasgow, then by Loudon to Auchinleck in Ayrshire, the seat of my family, and then by Hamilton, back to Edinburgh, where he again spent some time. He thus saw the four Universities of Scotland, its three principal cities, and as much of the Highland and insular life as was sufficient for his philosophical contemplation. I had the pleasure of accompanying him during the whole of this journey. He was respectfully entertained by the great, the learned, and the elegant, wherever he went; nor was he less delighted with the hospitality which he experienced in humbler life.
His various adventures, and the force and vivacity of his mind, as exercised during this peregrination, upon innumerable topicks, have been faithfully and to the best of my abilities displayed in my
"Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,"
to which, as the publick has been pleased to honour it by a very extensive circulation, I beg to refer, as to a separate and remarkable portion of his life, which may be there seen in detail▪ and which exhibits as striking a view of his powers in conversation, as his works do of his excellence in writing. Nor can I deny to myself the very flattering gratification of inserting here the character which my friend Mr. Courtenay has been pleased to give of that work:
"With Reynolds' pencil, vivid, bold, and true,
"So fervent Boswell gives him to our view:
"In every trait we see his mind expand;
"The master rises by the pupil's hand;
"We love the writer, praise his happy vein,
"Grac'd with the naiveté of the sage Montaigne.
"Hence not alone are brighter parts display'd,
"But ev'n the specks of character pourtray'd:
"We
see
the Rambler with fastidious smile
"Mark the lone tree, and note the heath-clad isle;
"But when the heroick tale of Flora
"The celebrated Flora Macdonald. See Boswell's
Tour."
charms,
"Deck'd in a kilt, he wields a chieftain's arms:
"The tuneful piper sounds a martial strain,
"And Samuel sings, 'The King shall have his ain."
During his stay at Edinburgh, after his return from the Hebrides, he was at great pains to obtain information concerning Scotland; and it will appear from his subsequent letters, that he was not less solicitous for intelligence on this subject after his return to London.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
I CAME home last night, without any incommodity, danger, or weariness, and am ready to begin a new journey. I shall go to Oxford on Monday. I know Mrs. Boswell wished me well to go
In this he shewed a very acute penetration. My wife paid him the most assiduous and respectful attention, while he was our guest; so that I wonder how he discovered her wishing for his departure. The truth is, that his irregular hours and uncouth habits, such as turning the candles with their heads downwards, when they did not burn bright enough, and letting the wax drop upon the carpet, could not but be disagreeable to a lady. Besides, she had not that high admiration of him which was felt by most of those who knew him; and what was very natural to a female mind, she thought he had too much influence over her husband. She once in a little warmth, made, with more point than justice, this remark upon that subject:
"I have seen many a bear led by a man; but I never before saw a man led by a bear."
; her wishes have not been disappointed. Mrs. Williams has received Sir A's
Sir Alexander Gordon, one of the Professors at Aberdeen.
letter.
Make my compliments to all those to whom my compliments may be welcome.
Let the box
This was a box containing a number of curious things which he had picked up in Scotland, particularly some horn spoons.
be sent as soon as it can, and let me know when to expect it.
Enquire, if you can, the order of the Clans: Macdonald is first, Maclean second; further I cannot go. Quicken Dr. Webster
The Reverend Dr. Alexander Webster, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, a man of distinguished abilities, who had promised him information concerning the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
.
I am, Sir, Yours affectionately, SAM. JOHNSON.
Nov. 27, 1773.
Mr.
BOSWELL
to Dr.
JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
Dec. 2, 1773.
* * * * * *
YOU shall have what information I can procure as to the order of the Clans. A gentleman of the name of Grant tells me, that there is no settled order among them; and he says, that the Macdonalds were not placed upon the right of the army at Culloden; the Stuarts were. I shall, however, examine witnesses of every name that I can find here. Dr. Webster shall be quickened too. I like your little memorandums; they are symptoms of your being in earnest with your book of northern travels.
Your box shall be sent next week by sea. You will find in it some pieces of the broom bush, which you saw growing on the old castle of Auchinleck. The wood has a curious appearance when sawn across. You may either have a little writing-standish made of it, or get it, formed into boards for a treatise on witchcraft, by way of a suitable binding.
* * * * * *
Mr.
BOSWELL
to Dr.
JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
Dec. 18, 1773▪
* * * * * *
YOU promised me an inscription for a print to be taken from an historical picture of Mary Queen of Scots being forced to resign her crown, which Mr. Hamilton at Rome has painted for me. The two following have been sent to me:
'Maria Scotorum Regina meliori seculo digna, jus regium civibus seditiosis invita resignat.'
'Cives seditiosi Mariam Scotorum Reginam sese muneri abdicare invitam cogunt.'
Be so good as to read the passage in Robertson, and see if you cannot give me a better inscription. I must have it both in Latin and English; so if you should not give me another Latin one, you will at least choose the best of these two, and send a translation of it.
* * * * * *
His humane forgiving disposition was put to a pretty strong test on his return to London, by a liberty which Mr. Thomas Davies had taken with him in his absence, which was, to publish two volumes, entitled,
"Miscellaneous and fugitive Pieces,"
which he advertised in the newspapers,
"By the Authour of the Rambler."
In this collection, several of Dr. Johnson's acknowledged writings, and several of his anonymous performances, and some which he had written for others, were inserted; but there were also some in which he had no concern whatever. He was at first very angry, as he had good reason to be. But, upon consideration of his poor friend's narrow circumstances, and that he had only a little profit in view, and meant no harm, he soon relented, and continued his kindness to him as formerly.
In the course of his self-examination with retrospect to this year, he seems to have been much dejected; for he says, January 1, 1774,
"This year has past with so little improvement, that I doubt whether I have not rather impaired than increased my learning
Prayers and Meditations, p. 129.
:"
and yet we have seen how he
read,
and we know how he
talked
during that period.
He was now seriously engaged in writing an account of our travels in the Hebrides, in consequence of which I had the pleasure of a more frequent correspondence with him.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
MY operations have been hindered by a cough; at least I flatter myself, that if the cough had not come, I should have been further advanced. But I have had no intelligence from Dr. W—, [Webster,] nor from the excise-office, nor from you. No account of the little borough
The ancient Burgh of Prestick, in Ayrshire.
. Nothing of the Erse language. I have yet heard nothing of my box.
You must make haste and gather me all you can, and do it quickiy, or I will and shall do without it.
Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and tell her that I do not love her the less for wishing me away. I gave her trouble enough, and shall be glad, in recompence, to give her any pleasure.
I would send some porter into the Hebrides, if I knew which way it could be got to my kind friends there. Enquire, and let me know.
Make my compliments to all the Doctors of Edinburgh, and to all my friends from one end of Scotland to the other.
Write to me, and send me what intelligence you can: and if any thing is too bulky for the post, let me have it by the carrier. I do not like trusting winds and waves.
I am, dear Sir, Your most, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
Jan. 29, 1774.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
IN a day or two after I had written the last discontented letter, I received my box, which was very welcome. But still I must entreat you to hasten Dr. Webster, and continue to pick up what you can that may be useful.
Mr. Oglethorpe was with me this morning. You know his errand. He was not unwelcome.
Tell Mrs. Boswell that my good intentions towards her still continue. I should be glad to do any thing that would either benefit or please her.
Chambers is not yet gone, but so hurried, or so negligent, or so proud, that I rarely see him. I have, indeed, for some weeks past, been very ill of a cold and cough, and have been at Mrs. Thrale's, that I might be taken care of. I am much better,
novae redeunt in praelia vires;
but I am yet tender, and easily disordered. How happy it was that neither of us were ill in the Hebrides.
The question of Literary Property is this day before the Lords. Murphy drew up the appellants' case, that is, the plea against the perpetual right. I have not seen it, nor heard the decision. I would not have the right perpetual.
I will write to you as any thing occurs, and do you send me something about my Scottish friends. I have very great kindness for them. Let me know likewise how fees come in, and when we are to see you.
I am, Sir, Yours affectionately, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
Feb. 7, 1774.
He wrote the following letters to Mr. Steevens, his able associate in editing Shakspeare:
To
GEORGE STEEVENS,
Esq. in Hampstead.
SIR,
IF I am asked when I have seen Mr. Steevens, you know what answer I must give; if I am asked when I shall see him, I wish you would tell me what to say.
If you have 'Lesley's History of Scotland,' or any other book about Scotland, except Boetius and Buchanan, it will be a kindness if you send them to,
Sir,
Your humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Feb. 7, 1774.
To the same.
SIR,
WE are thinking to augment our club, and I am desirous of nominating you, if you care to stand the ballot, and can attend on Friday nights at least twice in five weeks: less than that is too little, and rather more will be expected. Be pleased to let me know before Friday.
I am, Sir, Your most, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
Feb. 21, 1774.
To the same.
SIR,
LAST night you became a member of the club; if you call on me on Friday, I will introduce you. A gentleman, proposed after you, was rejected.
I thank you for Neander, but wish he were not so fine. I will take care of him.
I am, Sir, Your humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
March 5, 1774.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
DR. WEBSTER'S informations were much less exact and much less determinate than I expected: they are, indeed, much less positive than, if he can trust his own book
A manuscript account drawn up by Dr. Webster of all the parishes in Scotland, ascertaining their length, breadth, number of inhabitants, and distinguishing Protestants and Roman Catholicks. This book had been transmitted to government, and Dr. Johnson saw a copy of it in Dr. Webster's possession.
which he laid before me, he is able to give. But I believe it will always be found, that he who calls much for information will advance his work but slowly.
I am, however, obliged to you, dear Sir, for your endeavours to help me, and hope, that between us something will some time be done, if not on this, on some occasion.
Chambers is either married, or almost married, to Miss Wilton, a girl of sixteen, exquisitely beautiful, whom he has, with his lawyer's tongue, persuaded to take her chance with him in the East.
We have added to the club, Charles Fox, Sir Charles Bunbury, Dr. Fordyce, and Mr. Steevens.
Return my thanks to Dr. Webster. Tell Dr. Robertson that I have not much to reply to his censure of my negligence; and tell Dr. Blair that since he has written hither what I said to him, we must now consider ourselves as even, forgive one another, and begin again. I care not how soon, for he is a very pleasing man. Pay my compliments to all my friends, and remind Lord Elibank of his promise to give me all his works.
I hope Mrs. Boswell and little Miss are well.—When shall I see them again? She is a sweet lady, only she was so glad to see me go, that I have almost a mind to come again, that she may again have the same pleasure.
Enquire if it be practicable to send a small present of a cask of porter to Dunvegan, Rasay, and Col. I would not wish to be thought forgetful of civilities.
March 5, 1774.
I am, Sir, Your humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
On the 5th of March I wrote to him, requesting his counsel whether I should this spring come to London. I stated to him on the one hand some pecuniary embarrassments, which, together with my wife's situation at that time, made me hesitate; and, on the other, the pleasure and improvement which my annual visit to the metropolis always afforded me; and particularly mentioned a peculiar satisfaction which I experienced in celebrating the festival of Easter in St. Paul's cathedral; that to my fancy it appeared like going up to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover; and that the strong devotion which I felt on that occasion diffused its influence on my mind through the rest of the year.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
[Not dated, but written about
the 15th of March.]
I AM ashamed to think that since I received your letter I have passed so many days without answering it.
I think there is no great difficulty in resolving your doubts. The reasons for which you are inclined to visit London, are, I think, not of sufficient strength to answer the objections. That you should delight to come once a year to the fountain of intelligence and pleasure, is very natural; but both information and pleasure must be regulated by propriety. Pleasure, which cannot be obtained but by unseasonable or unsuitable expence, must always end in pain; and pleasure, which must be enjoyed at the expence of another's pain, can never be such as a worthy mind can fully delight in.
What improvement you might gain by coming to London, you may easily supply, or easily compensate, by enjoining yourself some particular study at home, or opening some new avenue to information. Edinburgh is not yet exhausted; and I am sure you will find no pleasure here which can deserve either that you should anticipate any part of your future fortune, or that you should condemn yourself and your lady to penurious frugality for the rest of the year.
I need not tell you what regard you owe to Mrs. Boswell's entreaties; or how much you ought to study the happiness of her who studies yours with so much diligence, and of whose kindness you enjoy such good effects. Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions. She permitted you to ramble last year, you must permit her now to keep you at home.
Your last reason is so serious, that I am unwilling to oppose it. Yet you must remember, that your image of worshipping once a year in a certain place, in imitation of the Jews, is but a comparison, and
simile non est idem;
if the annual resort to Jerusalem was a duty to the Jews, it was a duty because it was commanded; and you have no such command, therefore no such duty. It may be dangerous to receive too readily, and indulge too fondly, opinions, from which, perhaps, no pious mind is wholly disengaged, of local sanctity and local devotion. You know what strange effects they have produced over a great part of the Christian world. I am now writing, and you, when you read this, are reading under the Eye of Omnipresence.
To what degree fancy is to be admitted into religious offices, it would require much deliberation to determine. I am far from intending totally to exclude it. Fancy is a faculty bestowed by our Creator, and it is reasonable that all his gifts should be used to his glory, that all our faculties should co-operate in his worship; but they are to co-operate according to the will of him that gave them, according to the order which his wisdom has established. As ceremonies prudential or convenient are less obligatory than positive ordinances, as bodily worship is only the token to others or ourselves of mental adoration, so Fancy is always to act in subordination to Reason. We may take Fancy for a companion, but must follow Reason as our guide. We may allow Fancy to suggest certain ideas in certain places, but Reason must always be heard, when she tells us, that those ideas and those places have no natural or necessary relation. When we enter a church we habitually recal to mind the duty of adoration, but we must not omit adoration for want of a temple▪ because we know, and ought to remember, that the Universal Lord is every where present; and that, therefore, to come to Jona, or to Jerusalem, though it may be useful, cannot be necessary.
Thus I have answered your letter, and have not answered it negligently. I love you too well to be careless when you are serious.
I think I shall be very diligent next week about our travels, which I have too long neglected.
I am, dear Sir, Your most, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
Compliments to Madam and Miss.
To the same.
DEAR SIR,
THE lady who delivers this has a law-suit, in which she desires to make use of your skill and eloquence, and she seems to think that she shall have something more of both for a recommendation from me; which, though I know how little you want any external incitement to your duty, I could not refuse her, because I know that at least it will not hurt her, to tell you that I wish her well.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
May 10, 1774.
Mr.
BOSWELL
to Dr.
JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
May 12, 1774.
LORD HAILES▪ has begged of me to offer you his best respects, and to transmit to you specimens of 'Annals of Scotland, from the Accession of Malcolm Kenmore to the Death of James V.' in drawing up which, his Lordship has been engaged for some time. His Lordship writes to me thus: 'If I could procure Dr. Johnson's criticisms, they would be of great use to me in the prosecution of my work, as they would be judicious and true. I have no right to ask that favour of him. If you could, it would highly oblige me.
Dr. Blair requests you may be assured that he did not write to London what you said to him, and that neither by word nor letter has he made the least complaint of you; but, on the contrary, has a high respect for you, and loves you much more since he saw you in Scotland. It would both divert and please you to see his eagerness about this matter.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
Streatham,
June 21, 1774.
YESTERDAY I put the first sheets of the 'Journey to the Hebrides' to the press. I have endeavoured to do you some justice in the first paragraph. It will be one volume in octavo, not thick.
It will be proper to make some presents in Scotland. You shall tell me to whom I shall give; and I have stipulated twenty five for you to give in your own name. Some will take the present better from me, others better from you. In this, you who are to live in the place ought to direct. Consider it. Whatever you can get for my purpose, send me; and make my compliments to your lady and both the young ones.
I am, Sir, your, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
Mr.
BOSWELL
to Dr.
JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
June 25, 1774.
YOU do not acknowledge the receipt of the various packets which I have sent to you. Neither can I prevail with you to
answer
my letters, though you honour me with
returns.
You have said nothing to me about poor Goldsmith
Dr. Goldsmith died April 4, this year.
, nothing about Langton.
I have received for you, from the Society for propagating Christian Knowledge in Scotland, the following Erse books:—'The New Testament;'—'Baxter's Call;'—'The Confession of Faith of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster;'—'The Mother's Catechism;'—'A Gaelick and English Vocabulary
These books Dr. Johnson presented to the Bodleian Library.
.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
I WISH you could have looked over my book before the printer, but it could not easily be. I suspect some mistakes; but as I deal, perhaps, more in notions than facts, the matter is not great, and the second edition will be mended, if any such there be. The press will go on slowly for a time, because I am going into Wales to-morrow.
I should be very sorry if I appeared to treat such a character as that of Lord Hailes otherwise than with high respect. I return the sheets
On the cover enclosing them, Dr. Johnson wrote,
"If my delay has given any reason for supposing that I have not a very deep sense of the honour done me by asking my judgement, I am very sorry."
, to which I have done what mischief I could; and finding it so little, thought not much of sending them. The narrative is clear, lively, and short.
I have done worse to Lord Hailes than by neglecting his sheets: I have run him in debt. Dr. Horne, the President of Magdalen College in Oxford, wrote to me about three months ago, that he purposed to reprint Walton's Lives, and desired me to contribute to the work: my answer was, that Lord Hailes intended the same publication; and Dr. Horne has resigned it to him. His Lordship now must think seriously about it.
Of poor dear Dr. Goldsmith there is little to be told, more than the papers have made publick. He died of a fever, made, I am afraid, more violent by uneasiness of mind. His debts began to be heavy, and all his resources were exhausted. Sir Joshua is of opinion that he owed not less than two thousand pounds. Was ever poet so trusted before?
You may, if you please, put the inscription thus:
'Maria Scotorum Regina nata
15
—, a suis in exilium acta
15
—, ab hospitâ neci data
15
—.'
You must find the years.
Of your second daughter you certainly gave the account yourself, though you have forgotten it. While Mrs. Boswell is well, never doubt of a boy. Mrs. Thrale brought, I think, five girls running, but while I was with you she had a boy.
I am obliged to you for all your pamphlets, and of the last I hope to make some use. I made some of the former.
July 4, 1774.
I am, dear Sir, Your most affectionate servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
"My compliments to all the three ladies."
Mr.
BOSWELL
to Dr.
JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
Aug. 30, 1773.
YOU have given me an inscription for a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots, in which you, in a short and striking manner, point out her hard fate. But you will be pleased to keep in mind, that my picture is a representation of a particular scene in her history;—her being forced to resign her crown, while she was imprisoned in the castle of Lochlevin. I must, therefore, beg that you will be kind enough to give me an inscription suited to that particular scene, or determine which of the two formerly transmitted to you is the best; and, at any rate, favour me with an English translation. It will be doubly kind if you comply with my request speedily.
Your critical notes on the specimen of Lord Hailes's 'Annals of Scotland,' are excellent. I agreed with you in every one of them. He himself objected only to the alteration of
free
to
brave,
in the passage where he says that Edward
'departed with the glory due to the conquerour of a free people.'
He says,
'to call the Scots brave would only add to the glory of their conquerour.'
You will make allowance for the national zeal of our annalist. I now send a few more leaves of the Annals, which I hope you will peruse, and return with observations, as you did upon the former occasion. Lord Hailes writes to me thus:
'Mr. Boswell will be pleased to express the grateful sense which Sir David Dalrymple has of Dr. Johnson's attention to his little specimen. The further specimen will shew, that
'Even in an
Edward
he can see desert.'
It gives me much pleasure to hear that a re-publication of Isaac Walton's Lives is intended. You have been in a mistake in thinking that Lord Hailes had it in view. I remember one forenoon, while he sat with you in my house, he said, that there should be a new edition of Walton's Lives; and you said, that they should be benoted a little. This was all that passed on that subject. You must, therefore, inform Dr. Horne, that he may resume his plan. I enclose a note concerning it; and if Dr. Horne will write to me, all the attention that I can give shall be cheerfully bestowed, upon what I think a pious work, the preservation and elucidation of Walton, by whose writings I have been most pleasingly edified.
* * * * * *
Mr.
BOSWELL
to Dr.
JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
Sept. 16, 1774.
WALES has probably detained you longer than I supposed. You will have become quite a mountaineer, by visiting Scotland one year and Wales another. You must next go to Switzerland. Cambria will complain, if you do not honour her also with some remarks. And I find
concessere
columnae,
the booksellers expect another book. I am impatient to see your Tour to Scotland and the Hebrides. Might you not send me a copy by the post as soon as it is printed off?
* * * * * *
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
YESTERDAY I returned from my Welch journey. I was sorry to leave my book suspended so long; but having an opportunity of seeing, with so much convenience, a new part of the island, I could not reject it. I have been in five of the six counties of North Wales; and have seen St. Asaph and Bangor, the two seats of their bishops; have been upon Penmanmaur and Snowden, and passed over into Anglesea. But Wales is so little different from England, that it offers nothing to the speculation of the traveller.
When I came home, I found several of your papers, with some pages of Lord Hailes's Annals, which I will consider. I am in haste to give you some account of myself, lest you should suspect me of negligence in the pressing business which I find recommended to my care
I had written to him, to request his interposition in behalf of a convict, who I thought was very unjustly condemned.
, and which I knew nothing of till now, when all care is vain.
In the distribution of my books I purpose to follow your advice, adding such as shall occur to me. I am not pleased with your notes of remembrance added to your names, for I hope I shall not easily forget them.
I have received four Erse books, without any direction, and suspect that they are intended for the Oxford library. If that is the intention, I think it will be proper to add the metrical psalms, and whatever else is printed in Erse, that the present may be complete. The donor's name should be told.
I wish you could have read the book before it was printed, but our distance does not easily permit it.
I am sorry Lord Hailes does not intend to publish Walton; I am afraid it will not be done so well, if it be done at all.
I purpose now to drive the book forward. Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and let me hear often from you.
I am, dear Sir, Your affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
Octob. 1, 1774.
This tour to Wales, which was made in company with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, though it no doubt contributed to his health and amusement, did not give occasion to such a discursive exercise of his mind as our tour to the Hebrides. I do not find that he kept any journal or notes of what he saw there. All that I heard him say of it was, that instead of bleak and barren mountains, there were green and fertile ones; and that one of the castles in Wales would contain all the castles that he had seen in Scotland.
Parliament having been dissolved, and his friend Mr. Thrale, who was a steady supporter of government, having again to encounter the storm of a contested election, he wrote a short political pamphlet, entitled
"The Patriot, *"
addressed to the electors of Great-Britain; a title which, to factious men, who consider a patriot only as an opposer of the measures of government, will appear strangely misapplied. It was, however, written with energetick vivacity; and, except those passages in which it endeavours to vindicate the glaring outrage of the House of Commons in the case of the Middlesex election, and to justify the attempt to reduce our fellow-subjects in America to unconditional submission, it contained an admirable display of the properties of a real patriot, in the original and genuine sense,—a sincere, steady, rational, and unbiassed friend to the interests and prosperity of his King and country. It must be acknowledged, however, that both in this and his two former pamphlets, there was, amidst many powerful arguments, not only a considerable portion of sophistry, but a contemptuous ridicule of his opponents, which was very provoking.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
THERE has appeared lately in the papers an account of a boat overset between Mull and Ulva, in which many passengers were lost, and among them Maclean of Col. We, you know, were once drowned
In the newspapers.
; I hope, therefore, that the story is either wantonly or erroneously told. Pray satisfy me by the next post.
I have printed two hundred and forty pages.—I am able to do nothing much worth doing to dear Lord Hailes's book. I will, however, send back the sheets; and hope, by degrees, to answer all your reasonable expectations.
Mr. Thrale has happily surmounted a very violent and acrimonious opposition; but all joys have their abatements: Mrs. Thrale has fallen from her horse, and hurt herself very much. The rest of our friends, I believe, are well. My compliments to Mrs. Boswell.
I am, Sir, Your most affectionate servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
Octob. 27, 1774.
This letter, which shews his tender concern for an amiable young gentleman to whom we had been very much obliged in the Hebrides, I have inserted according to its date, though before receiving it I had informed him of the melancholy event that the young Laird of Col was unfortunately drowned.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
LAST night I corrected the last page of our 'Journey to the Hebrides.' The printer has detained it all this time, for I had, before I went into Wales, written all except two sheets. 'The Patriot' was called for by my political friends on Friday, was written on Saturday, and I have heard little of it. So vague are conjectures at a distance
Alluding to a passage in a letter of mine, where speaking of his
"Journey to the Hebrides,"
I say,
"But has not 'The Patriot' been an interruption, by the time taken to write it, and the time luxuriously spent in listening to its applauses?"
. As soon as I can, I will take care that copies be sent to you, for I would wish that they might be given before they are bought; but I am afraid that Mr. Strahan will send to you and to the booksellers at the same time. Trade is as diligent as courtesy. I have mentioned all that you recommended. Pray make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell and the younglings. The club has, I think, not yet met.
Tell me, and tell me honestly, what you think and others say of our travels. Shall we touch the continent
We had projected a voyage together up the Baltick, and talked of visiting some of the more northern regions.
?
I am, dear Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Nov. 26, 1774.
In his manuscript diary of this year, there is the following entry:
Nov. 27. Advent Sunday. I considered that this day, being the beginning of the ecclesiastical year, was a proper time for a new course of life. I began to read the Greek Testament regularly at 160 verses every Sunday. This day I began the Acts.
In this week I read Virgil's Pastorals. I learned to repeat the Pollio and Gallus. I read carelessly the first Georgick.
Such evidences of his unceasing ardour, both for
"divine and human lore,"
when advanced into his sixty-fourth year, and notwithstanding his many disturbances from disease, must make us at once honour his spirit, and lament that it should be so grievously clogged by its material tegument. It is remarkable, that he was very fond of the precision which calculation produces. Thus we find in one of his manuscript diaries,
"12 pages in 4to Gr. Test. and 30 pages in Beza's folio, comprize the whole in 40 days."
Dr.
JOHNSON
to
JOHN HOOLE,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
I HAVE returned your play
"Cleonice."
, which you will find underscored with red, where there was a word which I did not like. The red will be washed off with a little water.
The plot is so well framed, the intricacy so artful, and the disentanglement so easy, the suspense so affecting, and the passionate parts so properly interposed, that I have no doubt of its success.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
December 19, 1774.
The first effort of his pen in 1775, was,
"Proposals for publishing the Works of Mrs. Charlotte Lennox, †"
in three volumes quarto. In his diary, January 2, I find this entry:
"Wrote Charlotte's Proposals."
But, indeed, the internal evidence would have been quite sufficient. Her claim to the favour of the publick was thus enforced:
"Most of the pieces, as they appeared singly, have been read with approbation, perhaps above their merit, but of no great advantage to the writer. She hopes, therefore, that she shall not be considered as too indulgent to vanity, or too studious of interest, if, from that labour which has hitherto been chiefly gainful to others, she endeavours to obtain at last some profit for herself and her children. She cannot decently enforce her claim by the praise of her own performances; nor can she suppose, that, by the most artful and laboured address, any additional notice could be procured to a publication, of which Her MAJESTY has condescended to be the PATRONESS."
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
YOU never did ask for a book by the post till now, and I did not think on it. You see now it is done. I sent one to the King, and I hear he likes it.
I shall send a parcel into Scotland for presents, and intend to give to
many of my friends. In your catalogue you left out Lord Auchinleck.
Let me know, as fast as you read it, how you like it; and let me know if any mistake is committed, or any thing important left out. I wish you could have seen the sheets. My compliments to Mrs. Boswell, and to Veronica, and to all my friends.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
January 14, 1775.
Mr.
BOSWELL
to Dr.
JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
Jan. 19, 1775.
BE pleased to accept of my best thanks for your 'Journey to the Hebrides,' which came to me by last night's post. I did really ask the favour twice; but you have been even with me, by granting it so speedily. BIS
dat qui cito dat.
Though ill of a bad cold, you kept me up the greatest part of the last night; for I did not stop till I had read every word of your book. I looked back to our first talking of a visit to the Hebrides, which was many years ago, when sitting by ourselves in the Mitre tavern, in London, I think about
witching time o'night;
and then exulted in contemplating our scheme fulfilled, and a
monumentum perenne
of it erected by your superiour abilities. I shall only say, that your book has afforded me a high gratification. I shall afterwards give you my thoughts on particular passages. In the mean time, I hasten to tell you of your having mistaken two names, which you will correct in London, as I shall do here, that the gentlemen who deserve the valuable compliments which you have paid them, may enjoy their honours. In page 106, for
Gordon
read
Murchison;
and in page 357, for
Maclean
read
Macleod.
* * * * * *
But I am now to apply to you for immediate aid in my profession, which you have never refused to grant when I requested it. I enclose you a petition for Dr. Memis, a physician at Aberdeen, in which Sir John Dalrymple has exerted his talents, and which I am to answer as Counsel for the managers of the Royal Infirmary in that city. Mr. Jopp, the Provost, who delivered to you your freedom, is one of my clients, and,
as a citizen of Aberdeen,
you will support him.
The fact is shortly this. In a translation of the charter of the Infirmary from Latin into English, made under the authority of the managers, the same phrase in the original is in one place rendered
Physician,
but when applied to Dr. Memis is rendered
Doctor of Medicine.
Dr. Memis complained of this before the translation was printed, but was not indulged with having it altered, and he has brought an action for damages, on account of a supposed injury, as if the designation given to him were an inferiour one, tending to make it be supposed he is
not
a
Physician,
and, consequently to hurt his practice. My father has dismissed the action as groundless, and now he has appealed to the whole Court
In the Court of Session of Scotland an action is first tried by one of the Judges, who is called the Lord Ordinary; and if either party is dissatisfied, he may appeal to the whole Court, consisting of fifteen, the Lord President and fourteen other Judges, who have both in and out of Court the title of Lords, from the name of their estates; as, Lord Auchinleck, Lord Monboddo, &c.
.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
I LONG to hear how you like the book; it is, I think, much liked here. But Macpherson is very furious; can you give me any more intelligence about him, or his Fingal? Do what you can, and do it quickly. Is Lord Hailes on our side?
Pray let me know what I owed you when I left you, that I may send it to you.
I am going to write about the Americans. If you have picked up any hints among your lawyers, who are great masters of the law of nations, or if your own mind suggests any thing, let me know. But mum,—it is a secret.
I will send your parcel of books as soon as I can; but I cannot do as I wish. However, you find every thing mentioned in the book which you recommended.
Langton is here; we are all that ever we were. He is a worthy fellow, without malice, though not without resentment.
Poor Beauclerk is so ill, that his life is thought to be in danger. Lady Di. nurses him with very great assiduity.
Reynolds has taken too much to strong liquor
It should be recollected, that this fanciful description of his friend was given by Johnson after he had become a water-drinker.
, and seems to delight in his new character.
This is all the news that I have; but as you love verses, I will send you a few which I made upon Inchkenneth
See them in
"Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,"
3d edit. p. 337.
; but remember the condition, that you shall not show them, except to Lord Hailes, whom I love better than any man whom I know so little. If he asks you to transcribe them for him, you may do it, but I think he must promise not to let them be copied again, nor to show them as mine.
I have at last sent back Lord Hailes's sheets. I never think about returning them, because I alter nothing. You will see that I might as well have kept them. However, I am ashamed of my delay; and if I have the honour of receiving any more, promise punctually to return them by the next post. Make my compliments to dear Mrs. Boswell, and to Miss Veronica.
I am, dear Sir, Yours most faithfully, SAM. JOHNSON
He now sent me a Latin inscription for my historical picture of Mary Queen of Scots, and afterwards favoured me with an English translation. Mr. Alderman Boydell has subjoined them to the engraving from my picture.
"Maria Scotorum Regina,
"Hominum seditiosorum
"Contumeliis lassata,
"Minis territa, clamoribus victa,
"Libello, per quem
"Regno cedit,
"Lacrimans trepidansque
"Nomen apponit.
Mary Queen of Scots,
Harrassed, terrified, and overpowered
By the insults, menaces,
And clamours
Of her rebellious subjects,
Sets her hand
With tears and confusion,
To a resignation of the kingdom."
.
January 21, 1775.
Mr.
BOSWELL
to Dr.
JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
Jan. 27, 1775.
* * * * * *
YOU rate our lawyers here too high, when you call them great masters of the law of nations.
* * * * * *
As for myself, I am ashamed to say that I have read little and thought little on the subject of America. I will be much obliged to you, if you will direct me where I shall find the best information of what is to be said on both sides. It is a subject vast in its present extent and future consequences. The imperfect hints which now float in my mind, tend rather to the formation of an opinion that our government has been precipitant and severe in the resolutions taken against the Bostonians. Well do you know that I have no kindness for that race. But nations, or bodies of men, should, as well as individuals, have a fair trial, and not be condemned on character alone. Have we not express contracts with our colonies, which afford a more certain foundation of judgement, than general political speculations on the mutual rights of states and their provinces or colonies? Pray let me know immediately what to read, and I shall diligently endeavour to gather for you any thing that I can find. Is Burke's speech on American Taxation published by himself? Is it authentick? I remember to have heard you say, that you had never considered East Indian affairs; though, surely, they are of much importance to Great-Britain. Under the recollection of this, I shelter myself from the reproach of ignorance about the Americans. If you write upon the subject, I shall certainly understand it. But, since you seem to expect that I should know something of it, without your instruction, and that my own mind should suggest something, I trust you will put me in the way.
* * * * * *
What does Becket mean by the
Originals
of Fingal and other poems of Ossian, which he advertises to have lain in his shop?
* * * * * *
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
YOU sent me a case to consider, in which I have no facts but what are against us, nor any principles on which to reason. It is vain to try to write thus without materials. The fact seems to be against you, at least I cannot know nor say any thing to the contrary. I am glad that you like the book so well. I hear no more of Macpherson. I shall long to know what Lord Hailes says of it. Lend it him privately. I shall send the parcel as soon as I can. Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell.
I am, Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
January 28, 1775.
Mr.
BOSWELL
to Dr.
JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
Feb. 2, 1775.
* * * * * * *
AS to Macpherson, I am anxious to have from yourself a full and pointed account of what has passed between you and him. It is confidently told here, that before your book came out he sent to you, to let you know that he understood you meant to deny the authenticity of Ossian's Poems; that the originals were in his possession; that you might have inspection of them, and might take the evidence of people skilled in the Erse language; and that he hoped, after this fair offer, you would not be so uncandid as to assert that he had refused reasonable proof. That you paid no regard to his message, but published your strong attack upon him; that then he wrote a letter to you, in such terms as he thought suited to one who had not acted as a man of veracity. You may believe it gives me pain to hear your conduct represented as unfavourable, while I can only deny what is said, on the ground that your character refutes it, without having any information to oppose. Let me, I beg it of you, be furnished with a sufficient answer to any calumny upon this occasion.
Lord Hailes writes to me, (for we correspond more than we talk together,)
'As to Fingal, I see a controversy arising, and purpose to keep out of its way. There is no doubt that I might mention some circumstances; but I do not choose to commit them to paper.'
What his opinion is, I do not know. He says,
'I am singularly obliged to Dr. Johnson for his accurate and useful criticisms. Had he given some strictures on the general plan of the work, it would have added much to his favours.'
He is charmed with your verses on Inchkenneth, says they are very elegant, but bids me tell you he doubts whether
'Legitimas faciunt pectora pura preces,'
be according to the rubrick: but that is your concern; for, you know, he is a Presbyterian.
* * * * * *
To Dr.
LAWRENCE
The learned and worthy Dr. Lawrence, whom Dr. Johnson respected and loved as his physician and friend.
.
SIR,
February 7, 1775.
ONE of the Scotch physicians is now prosecuting a corporation that in some publick instrument have stiled him
Doctor of Medicine
instead of
Physician.
Boswell desires, being advocate for the corporation, to know whether
Doctor of Medicine
is not a legitimate title, and whether it may be considered as a disadvantageous distinction. I am to write to-night, be pleased to tell me.
I am, Sir, your most, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
MY DEAR BOSWELL,
I AM surprized that, knowing as you do the disposition of your countrymen to tell lies in favour of each other
My friend has, in this letter, relied upon my testimony with a confidence, of which the ground has escaped my recollection.
, you can be at all affected by any reports that circulate among them. Macpherson never in his life offered me the sight of any original or of any evidence of any kind, but thought only of intimidating me by noise and threats, till my last answer,—that I would not be deterred from detecting what I thought a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian,—put an end to our correspondence.
The state of the question is this. He, and Dr. Blair, whom I consider as deceived, say, that he copied the poem from old manuscripts. His copies, if he had them, and I believe him to have none, are nothing. Where are the manuscripts? They can be shown if they exist, but they were never shown.
De non existentibus et non apparentibus,
says our law,
eadem est ratio.
No man has a claim to credit upon his own word, when better evidence, if he had it, may be easily produced. But, so far as we can find, the Erse language was never written till very lately for the purposes of religion. A nation that cannot write, or a language that was never written, has no manuscripts.
But whatever he has, he never offered to show. If old manuscripts should now be mentioned, I should, unless there were more evidence than can be easily had, suppose them another proof of Scotch conspiracy in national falsehood.
Do not censure the expression; you know it to be true.
Dr. Memis's question is so narrow as to allow no speculation; and I have no facts before me but those which his advocate has produced against you.
I consulted this morning the President of the London College of Physicians, who says, that with us,
Doctor of Physick
(we do not say
Doctor of Medicine)
is the highest title that a practicer of physick can have; that
Doctor
implies not only
Physician,
but teacher of physick; that every
Doctor
is legally a
Physician,
but no man, not a
Doctor,
can
practice physick
but by
licence
particularly granted. The Doctorate is a licence of itself. It seems to us a very slender cause of prosecution.
* * * * * *
I am now engaged, but in a little time I hope to do all you would have. My compliments to Madam and Veronica.
I am, Sir, Your most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
February 7, 1775.
What words were used by Mr. Macpherson in his letter to the venerable Sage, I have never heard; but they are generally said to have been of a nature very different from the language of literary contest. Dr. Johnson's answer appeared in the newspapers of the day, and has since been frequently re-published; but not with perfect accuracy. I give it as dictated to me by himself, written down in his presence, and authenticated by a note in his own hand-writing,
"This, I think, is a true copy."
Mr.
JAMES MACPHERSON,
I RECEIVED your foolish and impudent letter. Any violence offered me I shall do my best to repel; and what I cannot do for myself, the law shall do for me. I hope I shall never be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian.
What would you have me retract? I thought your book an imposture; I think it an imposture still. For this opinion I have given my reasons to the publick, which I here dare you to refute. Your rage I defy. Your abilities, since your Homer, are not so formidable; and what I hear of your morals inclines me to pay regard not to what you shall say, but to what you shall prove. You may print this if you will.
SAM. JOHNSON.
Mr. Macpherson little knew the character of Dr. Johnson, if he supposed that he could be easily intimidated; for no man was ever more remarkable for personal courage. He had, indeed, an aweful dread of death, or rather
"of something after death;"
and what rational man, who seriously thinks of quitting all that he has ever known, and going into a new and unknown state of being, can be without that dread? But his fear was from reflection, his courage natural. His fear, in that one instance, was the result of philosophical and religious consideration. He feared death, but he feared nothing else, not even what might occasion death. Many instances of his resolution may be mentioned. One day, at Mr. Beauclerk's house in the country, when two large dogs were fighting, he went up to them, and beat them till they separated; and at another time, when told of the danger there was that a gun might burst if charged with many balls, he put in six or seven, and fired it off against a wall. Mr. Langton told me, that when they were swimming together near Oxford, he cautioned Dr. Johnson against a pool, which was reckoned particularly dangerous; upon which Johnson directly swam into it. He told me himself that one night he was attacked in the street by four men, to whom he would not yield, but kept them all at bay, till the watch came up, and carried both him and them to the round-house. In the play-house at Lichfield, as Mr. Garrick informed me, Johnson having for a moment quitted a chair which was placed for him between the side-scenes, a gentleman took possession of it, and when Johnson on his return civilly demanded his seat, rudely refused to give it up; upon which Johnson laid hold of him, and tossed him and the chair into the pit. Foote, who so successfully revived the old comedy, by exhibiting living characters, had resolved to imitate Johnson on the stage, expecting great profits from his ridicule of so celebrated a man. Johnson being informed of his intention, and being at dinner at Mr. Thomas Davies's the bookseller, from whom I had the story, he asked Mr. Davies
"what was the common price of an oak stick;"
and being answered six-pence,
"Why then, Sir, (said he,) give me leave to send your servant to purchase me a shilling one. I'll have a double quantity; for I am told Foote means to
take me off,
as he calls it, and I am determined the fellow shall not do it with impunity."
Davies took care to acquaint Foote of this, which effectually checked the wantonness of the mimick. Mr. Macpherson's menaces made Johnson provide himself with the same implement of defence; and had he been attacked, I have no doubt that, old as he was, he would have made his corporal prowess be felt as much as his intellectual.
His
"Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, *"
is a most valuable performance. It abounds in extensive philosophical views of society, and in ingenious sentiments and lively description. A considerable part of it, indeed, consists of speculations, which many years before he saw the wild regions which we visited together, probably had employed his attention, though the actual sight of those scenes undoubtedly quickened and augmented them. Mr. Orme, the very able historian, agreed with me in this opinion, which he thus strongly expressed:—"
There are in that book thoughts, which, by long revolution in the great mind of Johnson, have been formed and polished like pebbles rolled in the ocean!"
That he was to some degree of excess a
true-born Englishman,
so as to have ever entertained an undue prejudice against both the country and the people of Scotland, must be allowed. But it was a prejudice of the head, and not of the heart. He had no ill will to the Scotch; for, if he had been conscious of that, he would never have thrown himself into the bosom of their country, and trusted to the protection of its remote inhabitants with a fearless confidence. His remark upon the nakedness of the country, from its being denuded of trees, was made after having travelled two hundred miles along the eastern coast, where certainly trees are not to be found near the road, and he said it was
"a map of the road"
which he gave. His disbelief of the authenticity of the poems ascribed to Ossian, a Highland bard, was confirmed in the course of his journey, by a very strict examination of the evidence offered for it; and although their authenticity was made too much a national point by the Scotch, there were many respectable persons in that country who did not concur in this; so that his judgement upon the question ought not to be decried, even by those who differ from him. As to myself, I can only say, upon a subject now become very uninteresting, that when the fragments of Highland poetry first came out, I was much pleased with their wild peculiarity, and was one of those who subscribed to enable their editor, Mr. Macpherson, then a young man, to make a search in the Highlands and Hebrides for a long poem in the Erse language, which was reported to be preserved somewhere in those regions. But when there came forth an Epick Poem in six books, with all the common circumstances of former compositions of that nature; and when, upon an attentive examination of it, there was found a perpetual recurrence of the same images which appear in the fragments; and when no ancient manuscript, to authenticate the work, was deposited in any publick library, though that was insisted on as a reasonable proof,
who
could forbear to doubt?
Johnson's grateful acknowledgements of kindnesses received in the course of this tour, completely refute the brutal reflections which have been thrown out against him, as if he had made an ungrateful return; and his delicacy in sparing in his book those who we find from his letters to Mrs. Thrale, were just objects of censure, is much to be admired. His candour and amiable disposition is conspicuous from his conduct, when informed by Mr. Macleod, of Rasay, that he had committed a mistake, which gave that gentleman some uneasiness. He wrote him a courteous and kind letter, and inserted in the newspapers an advertisement, correcting the mistake
See
"Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides,"
3d edit. p. 520.
.
The observations of my friend Mr. Dempster in a letter written to me, soon after he had read Dr. Johnson's book, are so just and liberal, that they cannot be too often repeated:
* * * * * *
There is nothing in the book, from beginning to end, that a Scotchman need to take amiss. What he says of the country is true; and his observations on the people are what must naturally occur to a sensible, observing, and reflecting inhabitant of a convenient metropolis, where a man on thirty pounds a year may be better accommodated with all the little wants of life, than Col or Sir Allan.
I am charmed with his researches concerning the Erse language, and the antiquity of their manuscripts. I am quite convinced; and I shall rank Ossian, and his Fingals and Oscars, amongst the nursery tales, not the true history of our country, in all time to come.
Upon the whole, the book cannot displease, for it has no pretensions. The authour neither says he is a geographer, nor an antiquarian, nor very learned in the history of Scotland, nor a naturalist, nor a fossilist. The manners of the people, and the face of the country, are all he attempts to describe, or seems to have thought of. Much were it to be wished, that they who have travelled into more remote, and of course more curious regions, had all possessed his good sense. Of the state of learning, his observations on Glasgow University shew he has formed a very sound judgement. He understands our climate too; and he has accurately observed the changes, however slow and imperceptible to us, which Scotland has undergone, in consequence of the blessings of liberty and internal peace.
* * * * * *
Mr. Knox, another native of Scotland, who has since made the same tour, and published an account of it, is equally liberal.
"I have read (says he,) his book again and again, travelled with him from Berwick to Glenelg, through countries with which I am well acquainted; sailed with him from Glenelg to Rasay, Sky, Rum, Col, Mull, and Icolmkill, but have not been able to correct him in any matter of consequence. I have often admired the accuracy, the precision, and the justness of what he advances, respecting both the country and the people.
"The Doctor has every where delivered his sentiments with freedom, and in many instances with a seeming regard for the benefit of the inhabitants, and the ornament of the country. His remarks on the want of trees and hedges for shade, as well as for shelter to the cattle, are well founded, and merit the thanks, not the illiberal censure of the natives. He also felt for the distresses of the Highlanders, and explodes, with great propriety, the bad management of the grounds, and the neglect of timber in the Hebrides."
Having quoted Johnson's just compliments on the Rasay family, he says,
"On the other hand, I found this family equally lavish in their encomiums upon the Doctor's conversation, and his subsequent civilities to a young gentleman of that country, who, upon waiting upon him at London, was well received, and experienced all the attention and regard that a warm friend could bestow. Mr. Macleod having also been in London, waited upon the Doctor, who provided a magnificent and expensive entertainment, in honour of his old Hebridean acquaintance."
And talking of the military road by Fort Augustus, he says,
"By this road, though one of the most rugged in Great-Britain, the celebrated Dr. Johnson passed from Inverness to the Hebride Isles. His observations on the country and people are extremely correct, judicious, and instructive
Page 103.
."
His private letters to Mrs. Thrale, written during the course of his journey, which therefore may be supposed to convey his genuine feelings at the time, abound in such benignant sentiments towards the people who shewed him civilities, that no man whose temper is not very harsh and sour, can retain a doubt of the goodness of his heart.
It is painful to recollect with what rancour he was assailed by numbers of shallow irritable North-Britons, on account of his supposed injurious treatment of their country and countrymen, in his
"Journey."
Had there been any just ground for such a charge, would the virtuous and candid Dempster have given his opinion of the book, in the terms which I have quoted? Would the patriotick Knox
I observe with much regret, while this work is passing through the press, (August, 1790,) that this ingenious gentleman is dead.
have spoken of it as he has done? And let me add, that, citizen of the world as I hold myself to be, I have that degree of predilection for my
natale solum,
nay, I have that just sense of the merit of an ancient nation, which has been ever renowned for its valour, which in former times maintained its independence against a powerful neighbour, and in modern times has been equally distinguished for its ingenuity and industry in civilised life, that I should have felt a generous indignation at any injustice done to it. Johnson treated Scotland no worse than he did even his best friends, whose characters he used to give as they appeared to him, both in light and shade. Some people, who had not exercised their minds sufficiently, condemned him for censuring his friends. But Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose philosophical penetration and justness of thinking are not less known to those who live with him, than his genius in his art is admired by the world, explained his conduct thus:
"He was fond of discrimination, which he could not shew without pointing out the bad as well as the good in every character; and as his friends were those whose characters he knew best, they afforded him the best opportunity for shewing the acuteness of his judgement."
He expressed to his friend Mr. Windham of Norfolk, his wonder at the extreme jealousy of the Scotch, and their resentment at having their country described by him as it really was; when, to say that it was a country as good as England, would have been a gross falsehood.
"None of us, (said he,) would be offended if a foreigner who has travelled here should say, that vines and olives don't grow in England."
And as to his prejudice against the Scotch, which I always ascribed to that nationality which he observed in
them,
he said to the same gentleman,
"When I find a Scotchman to whom an Englishman is as a Scotchman, that Scotchman shall be as an Englishman to me."
His intimacy with many gentlemen of Scotland, and his employing so many natives of that country as his amanuenses, prove that his prejudice was not virulent▪ and I have deposited in the British Museum, amongst other pieces of his writing, the following note, in answer to one from me, asking if he would meet me at dinner at the Mitre, though a friend of mine, a Scotchman, was to be there:—
"Mr. Johnson does not see why Mr. Boswell should suppose a Scotchman less acceptable than any other man. He will be at the Mitre."
My much-valued friend Dr. Barnard, now Bishop of Killaloe, having once expressed to him an apprehension, that if he should visit Ireland he might treat the people of that country more unfavourably than he had done the Scotch, he answered, with strong pointed double-edged wit,
"Sir, you have no reason to be afraid of me. The Irish are not in a conspiracy to cheat the world by false representations of the merits of their countrymen. No, Sir; the Irish are a FAIR PEOPLE:—they never speak well of one another."
Johnson told me an instance of Scottish nationality, which made a very unfavourable impression upon his mind. A Scotchman, of some consideration in London, solicited him to recommend, by the weight of his learned authority, to be master of an English school, a person of whom he who recommended him confessed he knew no more but that he was his countryman. Johnson was shocked at this unconscientious conduct.
All the miserable cavillings against his
"Journey,"
in newspapers, magazines, and other fugitive publications, I can speak from certain knowledge, only furnished him with sport. At last there came out a scurrilous volume, larger than Johnson's own, filled with malignant abuse, under a name, real or fictitious, of some low man in an obscure corner of Scotland, though supposed to be the work of another Scotchman, who has found means to make himself well known both in Scotland and England. The effect which it had upon Johnson was, to produce this pleasant observation to Mr. Seward, to whom he lent the book:
"This fellow must be a blockhead. They don't know how to go about their abuse. Who will read a five shilling book against me? No, Sir, if they had wit, they should have kept pelting me with pamphlets."
Mr.
BOSWELL
to Dr.
JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
Feb. 18, 1775.
YOU would have been very well pleased if you had dined with me to day. I had for my guests, Macquharrie, young Maclean of Col, the successor of our friend, a very amiable man, though not marked with such active qualities as his brother, Mr. Maclean of Torloisk in Mull a gentleman of Sir Allan's family, and two of the clan Grant, so that the Highland and Hebridean genius reigned. We had a great deal of conversation about you, and drank your health in a bumper. The toast was not proposed by me, which is a circumstance to be remarked, for I am now so connected with you, that any thing that I can say or do to your honour has not the value of an additional compliment. It is only giving you a guinea out of that treasure of admiration which already belongs to you, and which is no hidden treasure; for I suppose my admiration of you is co-existent with the knowledge of my character.
I find that the Highlanders and Hebrideans in general are much fonder of your 'Journey,' than the low-country or
hither
Scots. One of the Grants said to day, that he was sure you were a man of a good heart, and a candid man, and seemed to hope he should be able to convince you of the antiquity of a good proportion of the poems of Ossian. After all that has passed, I think the matter is capable of being proved to a certain degree. I am told that Macpherson got one old Erse MS. from Clanranald, for the restitution of which he executed a formal obligation; and it is affirmed, that the Gaelick (call it Erse or call it Irish,) has been written in the Highlands and Hebrides for many centuries. It is reasonable to suppose, that such of the inhabitants as acquired any learning, possessed the art of writing as well as their Irish neighbours and Celtick cousins; and the question is, can sufficient evidence be shewn of this?
Those who are skilled in ancient writings can determine the age of MSS. or at least can ascertain the century in which they were written; and if men of veracity, who are so skilled, shall tell us that MSS. in the possession of families in the Highlands and isles, are the works of a remote age, I think we should be convinced by their testimony.
There is now come to this city, Ranald Macdonald, from the Isle of Egg, who has several MSS. of Erse poetry, which he wishes to publish by subscription. I have engaged to take three copies of the book, the price of which is to be six shillings, as I would subscribe for all the Erse that can be printed, be it old or new, that the language may be preserved. This man says, that some of his manuscripts are ancient; and, to be sure, one of them which was shewn to me does appear to have the duskyness of antiquity.
* * * * * *
The inquiry is not yet quite hopeless, and I should think that the exact truth may be discovered, if proper means be used.
I am, &c. JAMES BOSWELL.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
I AM sorry that I could get no books for my friends in Scotland. Mr. Strahan has at last promised to send two dozen to you. If they come, put the names of my friends into them; you may cut them out
From a list in his hand-writing.
, and paste them with a little starch in the book.
You then are going wild about Ossian. Why do you think any part can be proved? The dusky manuscript of Egg is probably not fifty years old; if it be an hundred, it proves nothing. The tale of Clanranald has no proof. Has Clanranald told it? Can he prove it? There are, I believe, no Erse manuscripts. None of the old families had a single letter in Erse that we heard of. You say it is likely that they could write. The learned, if any learned there were, could; but knowing by that learning some written language, in that language they wrote, as letters had never been applied to their own. If there are manuscripts, let them be shewn, with some proof that they are not forged for the occasion. You say many can remember parts of Ossian. I believe all those parts are versions of the English, at least there is no proof of their antiquity.
Macpherson is said to have made some translations himself; and having taught a boy to write it, ordered him to say that he had learned it of his grandmother. The boy, when he grew up, told the story. This Mrs. Williams heard at Mr. Strahan's table. Do not be credulous; you know how little a Highlander can be trusted. Macpherson is, so far as I know, very quiet. Is not that proof enough? Every thing is against him. No visible manuscript; no inscription in the language: no correspondence among friends: no transaction of business, of which a single scrap remains in the ancient families. Macpherson's pretence is, that the character was Saxon. If he had not talked unskilfully of
manuscripts,
he might have fought with oral tradition much longer. As to Mr. Grant's information, I suppose he knows much less of the matter than ourselves.
In the mean time, the bookseller says that the sale
Of his
"Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland."
is sufficiently quick. They printed four thousand. Correct your copy wherever it is wrong, and bring it up. Your friends will all be glad to see you. I think of going myself into the country about May.
I am sorry that I have not managed to send the books sooner. I have left four for you, and do not restrict you absolutely to follow my directions in the distribution. You must use your own discretion.
Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell; I suppose she is now just beginning to forgive me.
I am, dear Sir, Your humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Feb. 25, 1775.
On Tuesday, March 21, I arrived in London; and on repairing to Dr. Johnson's before dinner, found him in his study, sitting with Mr. Peter Garrick, the elder brother of David, strongly resembling him in his countenance and voice, but of more sedate and placid manners. Johnson informed me, that
"though Mr. Beauclerk was in great pain, it was hoped he was not in danger, and that he now wished to consult Dr. Heberden to try the effect of a
new understanding."
Both at this interview, and in the evening at Mr. Thrale's, where he and Mr. Peter Garrick and I met again, he was vehement on the subject of the Ossian controversy; observing,
"We do not know that there are any ancient Erse manuscripts; and we have no other reason to disbelieve that there are men with three heads, but that we do not know that there are any such men."
He also was outrageous, upon his supposition that my countrymen
"loved Scotland better than truth,"
saying,
"All of them,—nay not all,—but
droves
of them, would come up, and attest any thing for the honour of Scotland."
He also persevered in his wild allegation, that he questioned if there was a tree between Edinburgh and the English border older than himself. I assured him he was mistaken, and suggested that the proper punishment would be that he should receive a stripe at every tree above a hundred years old, that was found within that space. He laughed, and said,
"I believe I might submit to it for a
bawbie!"
The doubts which, in my correspondence with him, I had ventured to state as to the justice and wisdom of the conduct of Great-Britain towards the American colonies, while I at the same time requested that he would enable me to inform myself upon that momentous subject, he had altogether disregarded; and had recently published a pamphlet, entitled,
"Taxation no Tyranny; an Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the American Congress. *"
He had long before indulged most unfavourable sentiments of our fellow subjects in America: For, as early as 1769, I was told by Dr. John Campbell, that he had said of them,
"Sir, they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for any thing we allow them short of hanging."
Of this performance I avoided to talk with him; for I had now formed a clear and settled opinion, that the people of America were well warranted to resist a claim that their fellow-subjects in the mother-country should have the entire command of their fortunes, by taxing them without their own consent; and the extreme violence which it breathed, appeared to me so unsuitable to the mildness of a Christian philosopher, and so directly opposite to the principles of peace which he had so beautifully recommended in his pamphlet respecting Falkland's Islands, that I was sorry to see him appear in so unfavourable a light. Besides; I could not perceive in it that ability of argument, or that felicity of expression, for which he was, upon other occasions, so eminent. Positive assertion, sarcastical severity, and extravagant ridicule, which he himself reprobated as a test of truth, were united in this rhapsody.
That this pamphlet was written at the desire of those who were then in power, I have no doubt; and, indeed, he owned to me, that it had been revised and curtailed by some of them. He told me, that they had struck out one passage, which was to this effect:
"That the Colonists could with no solidity argue from their not having been taxed while in their infancy, that they should not now be taxed. We do not put a calf into the plow▪ we wait till he is an ox."
He said,
"They struck it out either critically, as too ludicrous, or politically, as too exasperating. I care not which. It was their business. If an architect says, I will build five stories, and the man who employs him says, I will have only three, the employer is to decide."
"Yes, Sir, (said I,) in ordinary cases. But should it be so when the architect gives his skill and labour
gratis?"
Unfavourable as I am constrained to say my opinion of this pamphlet was, yet, since it was congenial with the sentiments of numbers at that time, and as every thing relating to the writings of Dr. Johnson is of importance in literary history, I shall therefore insert some passages which were struck out, it does not appear why, either by himself or those who revised it. They appear printed in a few proof leaves of it in my possession, marked with corrections in his own hand-writing. I shall distinguish them by
Italicks.
In the paragraph where he says, the Americans were incited to resistance by European intelligence from
"men whom they thought their friends, but who were friends only to themselves,"
there followed,—
"and made, by their selfishness, the enemies of their country."
And the next paragraph ran thus:
"On the original contrivers of mischief,
rather than on those whom they have deluded,
let an insulted nation pour out its vengeance."
The paragraph which came next was in these words:
"Unhappy is that country, in which men can hope for advancement by favouring its enemies. The tranquillity of stable government is not always easily preserved against the machinations of single innovators; but what can be the hope of quiet, when factions hostile to the legislature can be openly formed and openly avowed?"
After the paragraph which now concludes the pamphlet, there followed this, in which he certainly means the great Earl of Chatham, and glances at a certain popular Lord Chancellor:
"If, by the fortune of war, they drive us utterly away, what they will do next can only be conjectured. If a new monarchy is erected, they will want a
KING.
He who first takes into his hand the sceptre of America, should have a name of good omen.
WILLIAM
has been known both as conqueror and deliverer; and perhaps England, however contemned, might yet supply them with
ANOTHER WILLIAM.
Whigs, indeed, are not willing to be governed; and it is possible that
KING WILLIAM
may be strongly inclined to guide their measures: but Whigs have been cheated like other mortals, and suffered their leader to become their tyrant, under the name of their
PROTECTOR.
What more they will receive from England, no man can tell. In their rudiments of empire they may want a
CHANCELLOR."
Then came this paragraph:
"Their numbers are, at present, not quite sufficient for the greatness which, in some form of government or other, is to rival the ancient monarchies; but, by Dr. Franklin's rule of progression, they will, in a century and a quarter, be more than equal to the inhabitants of Europe. When the Whigs of America are thus multiplied, let the Princes of the earth tremble in their palaces. If they should continue to double and to double, their own hemisphere will not contain them. But let not our boldest oppugners of authority look forward with delight to this futurity of Whiggism."
How it ended I know not, as it is cut off abruptly at the foot of the last of these proof pages.
His pamphlets in support of the measures of administration were published on his own account, and he afterwards collected them into a volume, with the title of
"Political Tracts, by the Authour of the Rambler,"
with this motto,
"Fallitur egregio quisquis sub Principe credit
"Servitium, numquam libertas gratior extat
"Quam sub Rege pio."
CLAUDIANUS.
These pamphlets drew upon him numerous attacks. Against the common weapons of literary warfare he was hardened; but there were two instances of animadversion which I communicated to him, and from what I could judge, both from his silence and his looks, appeared to me to impress him much.
One was, a
"A Letter to Dr. Samuel Johnson, occasioned by his late political Publications."
It appeared previous to his
"Taxation no Tyranny,"
and was written by Dr. Joseph Towers. In that performance, Dr. Johnson was treated with the respect due to so eminent a man, while his conduct as a political writer was boldly and pointedly arraigned, as inconsistent with the character of one, who, if he did employ his pen upon politicks,
"it might reasonably be expected should distinguish himself, not by party violence and rancour, but by moderation and by wisdom."
It concluded thus:
"I would, however, wish you to remember, should you again address the publick under the character of a political writer, that luxuriance of imagination or energy of language will ill compensate for the want of candour, of justice, and of truth. And I shall only add, that should I hereafter be disposed to read, as I heretofore have done, the most excellent of all your performances, 'THE RAMBLER,' the pleasure which I have been accustomed to find in it will be much diminished by the reflection that the writer of so moral, so elegant, and so valuable a work, was capable of prostituting his talents in such productions as 'The False Alarm,' the 'Thoughts on the Transactions respecting Falkland's Islands,' and 'The Patriot."
I am willing to do justice to the merit of Dr. Towers, of whom I will say, that although I abhor his Whiggish democratical notions and propensities, (for I will not call them principles,) I esteem him as an ingenious, knowing, and very convivial man.
The other instance was a paragraph of a letter to me, from my old and most intimate friend the Reverend Mr. Temple, who wrote the character of Gray, which has had the honour to be adopted both by Mr. Mason and Dr. Johnson in their accounts of that poet. The words were,
"How can your great, I will not say your
pious,
but your
moral
friend, support the barbarous measures of administration, which they have not the face to ask even their infidel pensioner Hume to defend."
However confident of the rectitude of his own mind, Johnson may have felt sincere uneasiness that his conduct should be erroneously imputed to unworthy motives, by good men, and that the influence of his valuable writings should on that account be in any degree obstructed or lessened.
He complained to a Right Honourable friend of distinguished talents and very elegant manners, with whom he maintained a long intimacy, and whose generosity towards him will afterwards appear, that his pension having been given to him as a literary character, he had been applied to by administration to write political pamphlets; and he was even so much irritated, that he delared his resolution to resign his pension. His friend shewed him the impropriety of such a measure, and he afterwards expressed his gratitude, and said he had received good advice. To that friend he once signified a wish to have his pension secured to him for his life; but he neither asked nor received from government any reward whatsoever for his political labours.
On Friday, March 24, I met him at the LITERARY CLUB, where were Mr. Beauclerk, Mr. Langton, Mr. Colman, Dr. Percy, Mr. Vesey, Sir Charles Bunbury, Dr. George Fordyce, Mr. Steevens, and Mr. Charles Fox. Before he came in, we talked of his
"Journey to the Western Islands,"
and of his coming away,
"willing to believe the second sight
Johnson's
"Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland,"
edit. 1785, p. 256.
,"
which seemed to excite some ridicule. I was then so impressed with the truth of many of the stories of it which I had been told, that I avowed my conviction, saying,
"He is only
willing
to believe, I
do
believe. The evidence is enough for me, though not for his great mind. What will not fill a quart bottle will fill a pint bottle. I am filled with belief."
"Are you? (said Colman,) then cork it up."
I found his
"Journey"
the common topick of conversation in London at this time, wherever I happened to be. At one of Lord Mansfield's formal Sunday evening conversations, strangely called
Levées,
his Lordship addressed me,
"We have all been reading your travels, Mr. Boswell."
I answered,
"I was but the humble attendant of Dr. Johnson."
The Chief Justice replied, with that air and manner which none, who ever saw and heard him, can forget,
"He speaks ill of nobody but Ossian."
Johnson was in high spirits this evening at the club, and talked with great animation and success. He attacked Swift, as he used to do upon all occasions.
"The Tale of a Tub' is so much superiour to his other writings, that one can hardly believe he was the authour of it. There is in it such a vigour of mind, such a swarm of thoughts, so much of nature, and art, and life."
I wondered to hear him say of
"Gulliver's Travels,"
"When once you have thought of big men and little men, it is very easy to do all the rest."
I endeavoured to make a stand for Swift, and tried to rouse those who were much more able to defend him; but in vain. Johnson at last of his own accord allowed very great merit to the inventory of articles found in the pockets of the Man Mountain, particularly the description of his watch, which it was conjectured was his GOD, as he consulted it upon all occasions. He observed, that
"Swift put his name to but two things, (after he had a name to put,) 'The Plan for the Improvement of the English Language,' and the last 'Drapier's Letter."
From Swift, there was an easy transition to Mr. Thomas Sheridan.—JOHNSON.
"Sheridan is a wonderful admirer of the tragedy of Douglas, and presented its authour with a gold medal. Some years ago, at a coffee-house in Oxford, I called to him, 'Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Sheridan, how came you to give a gold medal to Home, for writing that foolish play?' This, you see, was wanton and insolent; but I
meant
to be wanton and insolent. A medal has no value but as a stamp of merit. And was Sheridan to assume to himself the right of giving that stamp? If Sheridan was magnificent enough to bestow a gold medal as an honorary reward of dramatick excellence, he should have requested one of the Universities to choose the person on whom it should be conferred. Sheridan had no right to give a stamp of merit: it was counterfeiting Apollo's coin."
On Monday, March 27, I breakfasted with him at Mr. Strahan's. He told us, that he was engaged to go that evening to Mrs. Abington's benefit.
"She was visiting some ladies whom I was visiting, and begged that I would come to her benefit. I told her I could not heat: but she insisted so much on my coming, that it would have been brutal to have refused her."
This was a speech quite characteristical. He loved to bring forward his having been in the gay circles of life; and he was, perhaps, a little vain of the solicitations of this elegant and fashionable actress. He told us, the play was to be
"The Hypocrite,"
altered from Cibber's
"Nonjuror,"
so as to satyrize the Methodists.
"I do not think (said he,) the character of the Hypocrite justly applicable to the Methodists; but it was very applicable to the Nonjurors. I once said to Dr. Madan, a clergyman of Ireland, who was a great Whig, that perhaps a Nonjuror would have been less criminal in taking the oaths imposed by the ruling power, than refusing them; because refusing them, necessarily laid him under almost an irresistible temptation to be more criminal; for, a man
must
live, and if he precludes himself from the support furnished by the establishment, will probably be reduced to very wicked shifts to maintain himself
This was not merely a cursory remark; for in his Life of Fenton he observes,
"With many other wise and virtuous men, who at that time of discord and debate [about the beginning of this century,] consulted conscience well or ill informed, more than interest, he doubted the legality of the government; and refusing to qualify himself for publick employment, by taking the oaths required, left the University without a degree."
This conduct, Johnson calls
"perverseness of integrity."
The question concerning the morality of taking oaths, of whatever kind, imposed by the prevailing power at the time, rather than to be excluded from all consequence, or even any considerable usefulness in society, has been agitated with all the acuteness of casuistry. It is related, that he who devised the oath of abjuration, profligately boasted, that he had framed a test which should damn one half of the nation, and starve the other. Upon minds not exalted to inflexible rectitude, or minds in which zeal for a party is predominant to excess, taking that oath against conviction, may have been palliated under the plea of necessity, or ventured upon in heat, as upon the whole producing more good than evil.
At a county election in Scotland, many years ago, when there was a warm contest between the friends of the Hanoverian succession and those against it, the oath of abjuration having been demanded, the freeholders upon one side rose to go away. Upon which a very sanguine gentleman, one of their number, ran to the door to stop them, calling out with much earnestness,
"Stay, stay, my friends, and let us swear the rogues out of it!"
."
BOSWELL.
"I should think, Sir, that a man who took the oaths contrary to his principles, was a determined wicked man, because he was sure he was committing perjury: whereas a Nonjuror might be insensibly led to do what was wrong, without being so directly conscious of it."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, a man who goes to bed to his patron's wife is pretty sure that he is committing wickedness."
BOSWELL.
"Did the nonjuring clergymen do so, Sir?
JOHNSON.
"I am afraid many of them did."
I was startled at his argument, and could by no means think it convincing. Had not his own father complied with the requisition of government, (as to which he once observed to me, when I pressed him upon it,
"That,
Sir, he was to settle with himself,"
) he would probably have thought more unfavourably of a Jacobite who took the oaths:
"—had he not resembled
"My father as he
swore
—"
Mr. Strahan talked of launching into the great ocean of London, in order to have a chance for rising to eminence, and observing that many men were kept back from trying their fortune there, because they were born to a competency, said,
"Small certainties are the bane of men of talents:"
which Johnson confirmed. Mr. Strahan put Johnson in mind of a remark which he had made to him▪
"There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money."
"The more one thinks of this, (said Strahan,) the juster it will appear."
Mr. Strahan had taken a poor boy from the country as an apprentice, upon Johnson's recommendation. Johnson having inquired after him, said,
"Mr. Strahan, let me have five guineas on account, and I'll give this boy one. Nay, if a man recommends a boy, and does nothing for him, it is sad work. Call him down."
I followed him into the court-yard, behind Mr. Strahan's house; and there I had a proof of what I had heard him profess, that he talked alike to all.
"Some people (said he,) tell you that they let themselves down to the capacity of their hearers. I never do that. I speak uniformly, in as intelligible a manner as I can."
"Well, my boy, how do you go on?"
—
"Pretty well, Sir; but they are afraid I an't strong enough for some parts of the business."
JOHNSON.
"Why I shall be sorry for it; for when you consider with how little mental power and corporeal labour a printer can get a guinea a week, it is a very desirable occupation for you. Do you hear,—take all the pains you can; and if this does not do, we must think of some other way of life for you. There's a guinea."
Here was one of the many, many instances of his active benevolence. At the same time, the slow and sonorous solemnity with which, while he bent himself down, he addressed a little thick short-legged boy, contrasted with the boy's aukwardness and awe, could not but excite some ludicrous emotions.
I met him at Drury-lane playhouse in the evening. Sir Joshua Reynolds, at Mrs. Abington's request, had promised to bring a body of wits to her benefit; and having secured forty places in the front boxes, had done me the honour to put me in the groupe. Johnson sat on the seat directly behind me; and as he could neither see nor hear at such a distance from the stage, he was wrapped up in grave abstraction, and seemed quite a cloud, amidst all the sunshine of glitter and gaiety. I wondered at his patience in sitting out a play of five acts, and a farce of two. He said very little; but after the prologue to
"Bon Ton"
had been spoken, which he could hear pretty well from the more slow and distinct utterance, he observed,
"Dryden has written prologues superiour to any that David Garrick has written; but David Garrick has written more good prologues than Dryden has done. It is wonderful that he has been able to write such a variety of them."
At Mr. Beauclerk's, where I supped, was Mr. Garrick, whom I made happy with Johnson's praise of his prologues; and I suppose, in gratitude to him, he took up one of his favourite topicks, the nationality of the Scotch, which he maintained in his pleasant manner, with the aid of a little poetical fiction.
"Come, come, don't deny it: they are really national. Why, now, the Adams are as liberal-minded men as any in the world: but, I don't know how it is, all their workmen are Scotch. You are, to be sure, wonderfully free from that nationality; but so it happens, that you employ the only Scotch shoe-black in London."
He imitated the manner of his old master with ludicrous exaggeration; repeating, with pauses and half whistlings interjected,
"Os homini sublime dedit,—caelumque tueri—
"Jussit,—et erectos ad sidera—tollere vultus."
looking downwards all the time, and, while pronouncing the four last words, absolutely touching the ground with a kind of contorted gesticulation.
Garrick, however, when he pleased, could imitate Johnson very exactly; for that great actor, with his distinguished powers of expression which were so universally admired, possessed also an admirable talent of mimickry. He was always jealous that Johnson spoke lightly of him. I recollect his exhibiting him to me one day, as if saying
"Davy is futile,"
which he uttered perfectly with the tone and air of Johnson.
I cannot too frequently request of my readers while they peruse my account of Johnson's conversation, to endeavour to keep in mind his deliberate and strong utterance. His mode of speaking was indeed very impressive
My noble friend Lord Pembroke said once to me at Wilton, with a happy pleasantry and some truth, that
"Dr. Johnson's sayings would not appear so extraordinary, were it not for his
bowwow way."
The sayings themselves are generally of sterling merit; but, doubtless, his
manner
was an addition to their effect, and therefore should be attended to as much as may be. It is necessary, however, to guard those who were not acquainted with him, against overcharged imitations or caricatures of his manner, which are frequently attempted, and many of which are secondhand copies from the late Mr. Henderson the actor, who, though a good mimick of some persons, did not represent Johnson correctly.
; and I wish it could be preserved as musick is written, according to the very ingenious method of Mr. Steele
See
"Prosodia Rationalis;
or, an Essay towards establishing the Melody and Measure of Speech, to be expressed and perpetuated by peculiar Symbols."
London, 1779.
, who has shewn how the recitation of Mr. Garrick, and other eminent speakers, might be transmitted to posterity
in score.
Next day I dined with Johnson at Mr. Thrale's. He attacked Gray, calling him
"a dull fellow."
BOSWELL.
"I understand he was reserved, and might appear dull in company; but surely he was not dull in poetry."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, he was dull in company, dull in his closet, dull every where. He was dull in a new way, and that made many people think him GREAT. He was a mechanical poet."
He then repeated some ludicrous lines, which have escaped my memory, and said,
"Is not that GREAT, like his Odes?"
Mrs. Thrale maintained that his Odes were melodious; upon which he exclaimed,
"Weave the warp, and weave the woof;"—
I added, in a solemn tone,
"The winding-sheet of Edward's race.'
There
is a good line."
—
"Aye, (said he,) and the next line is a good one;"
(pronouncing it contemptuously):
"Give ample verge and room enough,"—
"No, Sir, there are but two good stanzas in Gray's poetry, which are in his 'Elegy in a Country Church-yard."
He then repeated the stanza,
"For who to dumb forgetfulness a prey," &c.
mistaking one word; for instead of
precincts
he said
confines.
He added,
"The other stanza I forget."
A young lady who had married a man much her inferiour in rank being mentioned, a question arose how a woman's relations should behave to her in such a situation; and, while I recapitulate the debate, and recollect what has since happened, I cannot but be struck in a manner that delicacy forbids me to express. While I contended that she ought to be treated with an inflexible steadiness of displeasure, Mrs. Thrale was all for mildness and forgiveness, and, according to the vulgar phrase, making the best of a bad bargain. JOHNSON.
"Madam, we must distinguish. Were I a man of rank, I would not let a daughter starve who had made a mean marriage; but having voluntarily degraded herself from the station which she was originally entitled to hold, I would support her only in that which she herself has chosen; and would not put her on a level with my other daughters. You are to consider, Madam, that it is our duty to maintain the subordination of civilised society; and when there is a gross and shameful deviation from rank, it should be punished so as to deter others from the same perversion."
After frequently considering this subject, I am more and more confirmed in what I then meant to express, and which was sanctioned by the authority, and illustrated by the wisdom, of Johnson; and I think it of the utmost consequence to the happiness of Society, to which subordination is absolutely necessary. It is weak, and contemptible, and unworthy, in a parent to relax in such a case. It is sacrificing general advantage to private feelings. And let it be considered, that the claim of a daughter who has acted thus, to be restored to her former situation, is either fantastical or unjust. If there be no value in the distinction of rank, what does she suffer by being kept in the situation to which she has descended? If there be a value in that distinction, it ought to be steadily maintained. If indulgence be shewn to such conduct, and the offenders know that in a longer or shorter time they shall be received as well as if they had not contaminated their blood by a base alliance, the great check upon that inordinate caprice which generally occasions low marriages, will be removed, and the fair and comfortable order of improved life will be miserably disturbed.
Lord Chesterfield's letters being mentioned, Johnson said,
"It was not to be wondered at that they had so great a sale, considering that they were the letters of a statesman, a wit, one who had been so much in the mouths of mankind, one long accustomed
virûm volitare per ora."
On Friday, March 31, I supped with him and some friends at a tavern. One of the company attempted, with too much forwardness, to rally him on his late appearance at the theatre; but had reason to repent of his temerity.
"Why, Sir, did you go to Mrs. Abington's benefit? Did you see?"
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir."
"Did you hear?"
JOHNSON.
"No, Sir."
"Why then, Sir, did you go?"
JOHNSON.
"Because, Sir, she is a favourite of the publick: and when the publick cares the thousandth part for you that it does for her, I will go to your benefit too."
Next morning I won a small bett from Lady Diana Beauclerk, by asking him as to one of his particularities, which her Ladyship laid I durst not do. It seems he had been frequently observed at the club to put into his pocket the Seville oranges, after he had squeezed the juice of them into the drink which he made for himself. Beauclerk and Garrick talked of it to me, and seemed to think that he had a strange unwillingness to be discovered. We could not divine what he did with them; and this was the bold question to be put. I saw on his table the spoils of the preceding night, some fresh peels nicely scraped and cut into pieces.
"O, Sir, (said I,) I now partly see what you do with the squeezed oranges which you put into your pocket at the club."
JOHNSON.
"I have a great love for them."
BOSWELL.
"And pray, Sir, what do you do with them? You scrape them, it seems, very neatly, and what next?"
JOHNSON.
"I let them dry, Sir."
BOSWELL.
"And what next?"
"JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, you shall know their fate no further."
BOSWELL.
"Then the world must be left in the dark. It must be said, (assuming a mock solemnity,) he scraped them, and let them dry, but what he did with them next, he never could be prevailed upon to tell."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, you should say it more emphatically▪ —he could not be prevailed upon, even by his dearest friends, to tell."
He had this morning received his Diploma as Doctor of Laws from the University of Oxford. He did not vaunt of his new dignity, but I understood he was highly pleased with it. I shall here insert the progress and completion of that high academical honour, in the same manner as I have traced his obtaining that of Master of Arts.
To the Reverend Dr.
FOTHERGILL,
Vice-Chancellor of the University of
Oxford,
to be communicated to the Heads of Houses, and proposed in Convocation.
Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen,
THE honour of the degree of M. A. by diploma, formerly conferred upon Mr. SAMUEL JOHNSON, in consequence of his having eminently distinguished himself by the publication of a series of essays, excellently calculated to form the manners of the people, and in which the cause of religion and morality has been maintained and recommended by the strongest powers of argument and elegance of language, reflected an equal degree of lustre upon the University itself.
The many learned labours which have since that time employed the attention and displayed the abilities of that great man, so much to the advancement of literature and the benefit of the community, render him worthy of more distinguished honours in the republick of letters: and I persuade myself, that I shall act agreeably to the sentiments of the whole University, in desiring that it may be proposed in Convocation to confer on him the degree of Doctor in Civil Law by diploma, to which I readily give my consent; and am,
Mr. Vice-Chancellor and Gentlemen,
Your affectionate friend and servant, NORTH
Extracted from the Convocation Register, Oxford.
.
Downing-street,
March 23, 1775.
DIPLOMA.
CANCELLARIUS, Magistri, et Scholares Universitatis Oxoniensis, omnibus ad quos praesentes Literae pervenerint, Salutem in Domino Sempiternam.
SCIATIS,
virum illustrem,
SAMUELEM JOHNSON,
in omni humaniorum literarum genere eruditum, omniumque scientiarum comprehensione felicissimum, scriptis suis, ad populartum mores formandos summâ verborum elegantiâ ac sententiarum gravitate compositis, ita olim inclaruisse, ut dignus videretur cui ab Academiâ suâ eximia quaedam laudis praemia deferentur, quique venerabilem Magistrorum Ordinem summâ cum dignitate cooptaretur:
Cùm verò eundem clarissimum virum tot posteà tantique labores, in patriâ praese
tim linguâ ornandâ et stabiliendâ feliciter impensi, ita insigniverint, ut in Literarum Republicâ
PRINCEPS
jam et
PRIMARIUS
jure habeatur; Nos
CANCELLARIUS,
Magistri et Scholares Universitatis Oxoniensis, quò talis viri merita pari honoris remuneratione exaequentur, et perpetuum suae simul laudis, nostraeque erga literas propensissimae voluntatis extet monumentum, in solenni Convocatione Doctorum et Magistrorum regentium et non regentium, praedictum
SAMUELEM JOHNSON
Doctorem in Jure Civili renunciavimus et constituimus, eumque virtute praesentis Diplomatis singulis juribus, privilegiis et honoribus, ad istum gradum quàquà pertinentibus, frui et gaudere jussimus. In cujus rei testimonium commune Universitatis Oxoniensis sigillum praesentibus apponi fecimus.
Datum in Domo nostrae Convocationis
die tricesimo mensis Martii, Anno Domini Millesimo, septingentesimo, septuagesimo quinto.
The original is in my possession.
Viro reverendo
THOMAE FOTHERGILL,
S. T. P. Universitatis Oxoniensis-Vice-Cancellario.
S. P. D. SAM. JOHNSON.
MULTIS non est opus, ut testimonium quo, te praeside, Oxonienses nomen meum posteris commendârunt, quali animo acceperim compertum faciam. Nemo sibi placens non laetatur; nemo sibi non placet, qui vobis, literarum arbitris, placere potuit. Hoc tamen habet incommodi tantum beneficium, quod mibi nunquam posthàc sine vestrae famae detrimento vel labi liceat vel cessare; semperque sit timendum, ne quod mihi tam eximiae laudi est, vobis aliquando fiat opprobrio.
Vale
"The original is in the hands of Dr. Fothergill, then Vice-Chancellor, who made this transcript.
"T. WARTON."
.
7.
Id. Apr.
1775.
He revised some sheets of Lord Hailes's
"Annals of Scotland,"
and wrote a few notes on the margin with red ink, which he bade me tell his Lordship did not sink into the paper, and might be wiped off with a wet sponge, so that he did not spoil his manuscript. I told him there were very few of his friends so accurate as that I could venture to put down in writing what they told me as his sayings. JOHNSON.
"Why should you write down
my
sayings?"
BOSWELL.
"I write them when they are good."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, you may as well write down the sayings of any one else that are good."
But
where,
I might with great propriety have added, can I find such?
I visited him by appointment in the evening, and we drank tea with Mrs. Williams. He told me that he had been in the company of a gentleman whose extraordinary travels had been much the subject of conversation. But I found that he had not listened to him with that full confidence, without which there is little satisfaction in the society of travellers. I was curious to hear what opinion so able a judge as Johnson had formed of his abilities, and I asked if he was not a man of sense. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, he is not a distinct relater; and I should say, he is neither abounding nor deficient in sense. I did not perceive any superiority of understanding."
BOSWELL.
"But will you not allow him a nobleness of resolution, in penetrating into distant regions?"
JOHNSON.
"That, Sir, is not to the present purpose: we are talking of his sense. A fighting cock has a nobleness of resolution."
Next day, Sunday, April 2, I dined with him at Mr. Hoole's. We talked of Pope. JOHNSON.
"He wrote his 'Dunciad' for fame. That was his primary motive. Had it not been for that, the dunces might have railed against him till they were weary, without his troubling himself about them. He delighted to vex them, no doubt; but he had more delight in seeing how well he could vex them."
The
"Odes to Obscurity and Oblivion,"
in ridicule of
"cool Mason and warm Gray,"
being mentioned, Johnson said,
"They are Colman's best things."
Upon its being observed that it was believed these Odes were made by Colman and Lloyd jointly;—JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, how can two people make an Ode? Perhaps one made one of them, and one the other."
I observed that two people had made a play, and quoted the anecdote of Beaumont and Fletcher, who were brought under sufpicion of treason, because while concerting the plan of a tragedy when sitting together at a tavern, one of them was overheard saying to the other,
'I'll kill the King.'
JOHNSON.
"The first of these Odes is the best: but they are both good. They exposed a very bad kind of writing."
BOSWELL.
"Surely, Sir, Mr. Mason's
"Elfrida"
is a fine poem: at least you will allow there are some good passages in it."
JOHNSON.
"There are now and then some good imitations of Milton s bad manner."
I often wondered at his low estimation of the writings of Gray and Mason. Of Gray's poetry I have, in a former part of this work, expressed my high opinion; and for that of Mr. Mason I have ever entertained a warm admiration. His
"Elfrida"
is exquisite, both in poetical description and moral sentiment; and his
"Caractacus"
is a noble drama. Nor can I omit paying my tribute of praise to some of his smaller poems which I have read with pleasure, and which no criticism shall persuade me not to like. If I wondered at Johnson's not tasting the works of Mason and Gray, still more have I wondered at their not tasting his works; that they should be insensible to his energy of diction, to his splendour of images, and comprehension of thought. Tastes may differ as to the violin, the flute, the hautboy, in short, all the lesser instruments: but who can be insensible to the powerful impressions of the majestick organ?
His
"Taxation no Tyranny"
being mentioned, he said,
"I think I have not been attacked enough for it. Attack is the re-action. I never think I have hit hard, unless it rebounds."
BOSWELL.
"I don't know, Sir, what you would be at. Five or six shots of small arms in every newspaper, and repeated cannonading in pamphlets, might, I think satisfy you. But, Sir, you'll never make out this match, of which we have talked, with a certain political lady, since you are so severe against her principles."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, I have the better chance for that. She is like the Amazons of old; she must be courted by the sword. But I have not been severe upon her."
BOSWELL.
"Yes, Sir, you have made her ridiculous."
JOHNSON.
"That was already done, Sir. To endeavour to make
her
ridiculous, is like blacking the chimney."
I put him in mind that the landlord at Ellon in Scotland said, that he heard he was the greatest man in England,—next to Lord Mansfield.
"Aye, Sir, (said he,) the exception defined the idea. A Scotchman could go no farther:
"The force of Nature could no farther go."
Lady Miller's collection of verses by fashionable people, which were put into her Vase at Bathcaston villa, near Bath. in competition for honorary prizes, being mentioned, he held them very cheap:
"Bouts rimés
(said he,) is a mere conceit, and an
old
conceit
now;
I wonder how people were persuaded to write in that manner for this lady."
I named a gentleman of his acquaintance, who wrote for the Vase. JOHNSON.
"He was a blockhead for his pains."
BOSWELL.
"The Duchess of Northumberland wrote."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, the Duchess of Northumberland may do what she pleases: nobody will say any thing to a lady of her high rank. But I should be apt to throw ******'s verses in his face."
I talked of the cheerfulness of Fleet-street, owing to the constant quick succession of people which we perceive passing through it. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, Fleet-street has a very animated appearance; but I think the full tide of human existence is at Charing-cross."
He made the common remark on the unhappiness which men who have led a busy life experience, when they retire in expectation of enjoying themselves at ease, and that they generally languish for want of their habitual occupation, and wish to return to it. He mentioned as strong an instance of this as can well be imagined.
"An eminent tallow-chandler in London, who had acquired a considerable fortune, gave up the trade in favour of his foreman, and went to live at a country-house near town. He soon grew weary, and paid frequent visits to his old shop, where he desired they might let him know their
melting-days,
and he would come and assist them; which he accordingly did. Here, Sir, was a man, to whom the most disgusting circumstance in the business to which he had been used, was a relief from idleness."
On Wednesday, April 5, I dined with him at Messieurs Dillys, with Mr. John Scott of Amwell, the Quaker, Mr. Langton, Mr. Miller, (now Sir John,) and Dr. Thomas Campbell, an Irish clergyman, whom I took the liberty of inviting to Messieurs Dillys' table, having seen him at Mr. Thrale's, and been told that he had come to England chiefly with a view to see Dr. Johnson, for whom he entertained the highest veneration. He has since published
"A philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland,"
a very entertaining book, which has, however, one fault;—that it assumes the fictitious character of an Englishman.
We talked of publick speaking.—JOHNSON.
"We must not estimate a man's powers by his being able or not able to deliver his sentiments in publick. Isaac Hawkins Browne, one of the first wits of this country, got into parliament, and never opened his mouth. For my own part, I think it is more disgraceful never to try to speak, than to try it and fail▪ as it is more disgraceful not to fight, than to fight and be beaten."
This argument appeared to me fallacious; for if a man has not spoken, it may be said that he would have done very well if he had tried; whereas, if he has tried and failed, there is nothing to be said for him.
"Why then, (I asked,) is it thought disgraceful for a man not to fight, and not disgraceful not to speak in publick?"
JOHNSON.
"Because there may be other reasons for a man's not speaking in publick than want of resolution: he may have nothing to say, (laughing). Whereas, Sir, you know courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other."
He observed, that
"the statutes against bribery were intended to prevent upstarts with money from getting into parliament;"
adding, that
"if he were a gentleman of landed property, he would turn out all his tenants who did not vote for the candidate whom he supported."
LANGTON.
"Would not that, Sir, be checking the freedom of election?"
JOHNSON.
"Sir, the law does not mean that the privilege of voting should be independent of old family interest, of the permanent property of the country."
On Thursday, April 6, I dined with him at Mr. Thomas Davies's, with Mr. Hicky the painter, and my old acquaintance Mr. Moody the player.
Dr. Johnson, as usual, spoke contemptuously of Colley Cibber.
"It is wonderful that a man, who for forty years had lived with the great and the witty. should have acquired so ill the talents of conversation: and he had but half to furnish; for one half of what he said was oaths."
He, however, allowed considerable merit to some of his comedies, and said there was no reason to believe that
"The Careless Husband"
was not written by himself. Davies said, he was the first dramatick writer who introduced genteel ladies upon the stage. Johnson refuted this observation by instancing several such characters in comedies before his time. DAVIES. (trying to defend himself from a charge of ignorance,)
"I mean genteel moral characters."
"I think (said Hicky,) gentility and morality are inseparable."
BOSWELL.
"By no means, Sir. The genteelest characters are often the most immoral. Does not Lord Chesterfield give precepts for uniting wickedness and the graces? A man, indeed, is not genteel when he gets drunk; but most vices may be committed very genteely: a man may debauch his friend's wife genteely: he may cheat at cards genteely."
HICKY.
"I do not think
that
is genteel."
BOSWELL.
"Sir, it may not be like a gentleman, but it may be genteel."
JOHNSON.
"You are meaning two different things. One means exteriour grace; the other honour. It is certain, that a man may be very immoral with exteriour grace. Lovelace, in 'Clarissa,' is a very genteel and a very wicked character. Tom Hervey, who died t'other day, though a vicious man, was one of the genteelest men that ever lived."
Tom Davies instanced Charles the Second. JOHNSON, (taking fire at any attack upon this Prince, for whom he had an extraordinary partiality,)
"Charles the Second was licentious in his practice; but he always had a reverence for what was good. Charles the Second knew his people, and rewarded merit. The Church was at no time better filled than in his reign. He was the best King we have had from his time till the reign of his present Majesty, except James the Second, who was a very good King, but unhappily believed that it was necessary for the salvation of his subjects that they should be Roman Catholicks.
He
had the merit of endeavouring to do what he thought was for the salvation of the souls of his subjects, till he lost a great empire.
We,
who thought that we should
not
be saved if we were Roman Catholicks, had the merit of maintaining our religion, at the expence of submitting ourselves to the government of King William, (for it could not be done otherwise,)—to the government of one of the most worthless scoundrels that ever existed. No; Charles the Second was not such a man as—, (naming another King). He did not destroy his father's will. He took money, indeed, from France: but he did not betray those over whom he ruled: he did not let the French fleet pass ours. George the First knew nothing, and desired to know nothing; did nothing, and desired to do nothing: and the only good thing that is told of him is, that he wished to restore the crown to its hereditary successor."
He roared with prodigious violence against George the Second. When he ceased, Moody interjected, in an Irish tone, and with a comick look,
"Ah! poor George the Second."
I mentioned that Dr. Thomas Campbell had come from Ireland to London, principally to see Dr. Johnson. He seemed angry at this observation. DAVIES.
"Why, you know, Sir, there came a man from Spain to see Livy
Plin. Epist. Lib. ii. Fp. 3.
; and Corelli came to England to see Purcell, and, when he heard he was dead, went directly back again to Italy."
JOHNSON.
"I should not have wished to be dead to disappoint Campbell, had he been so foolish as you represent him; but I should have wished to have been a hundred miles off."
This was apparently perverse; and I do believe it was not his real way of thinking: he could not but like a man who came so far to see him. He laughed with some complacency, when I told him Campbell's odd expression to me concerning him:
"That having seen such a man, was a thing to talk of a century hence;"
—as if he could live so long.
We got into an argument whether the Judges who went to India might with propriety engage in trade. Johnson warmly maintained that they might.
"For why (he urged) should not Judges get riches, as well as those who deserve them less."
I said, they should have sufficient salaries, and have nothing to take off their attention from the affairs of the publick. JOHNSON.
"No Judge, Sir, can give his whole attention to his office; and it is very proper that he should employ what time he has to himself, for his own advantage, in the most profitable manner."
"Then, Sir, (said Davies, who enlivened the dispute by making it somewhat dramatick,) he may become an insurer; and when he is going to the bench, he may be stopped,—'Your Lordship cannot go yet: here is a bunch of invoices: several ships are about to sail."
JOHNSON.
"Sir, you may as well say a judge should not have a house; for they may come and tell him, 'Your Lordship's house is on fire;' and so, instead of minding the business of his Court, he is to be occupied in getting the engine with the greatest speed. There is no end of this. Every Judge who has land, trades to a certain extent in corn or in cattle; and in the land itself, undoubtedly. His steward acts for him, and so do clerks for a great merchant. A Judge may be a farmer; but he is not to geld his own pigs. A Judge may play a little at cards for his amusement; but he is not to play at marbles, or at chuck-farthing in the Piazza. No, Sir; there is no profession to which a man gives a very great proportion of his time. It is wonderful when a calculation is made, how little the mind is actually employed in the discharge of any profession. No man would be a Judge, upon the condition of being obliged to be totally a Judge. The best employed lawyer has his mind at work but for a small proportion of his time: a great deal of his occupation is merely mechanical.—I once wrote for a magazine: I made a calculation, that if I should write but a page a day, at the same rate, I should, in ten years, write nine volumes in folio, of an ordinary size and print."
BOSWELL.
"Such as Carte's History?"
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir. When a man writes from his own mind, he writes very rapidly
Johns;on certainly did, who had a mind stored with knowledge, and teeming with imagery: but the observation is not applicable to writers in general.
. The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write▪ a man will turn over half a library to make one book."
I argued warmly against the Judges trading, and mentioned Hale as an instance of a perfect Judge, who devoted himself entirely to his office. JOHNSON.
"Hale, Sir, attended to other things beside law: he left a great estate."
BOSWELL.
"That was, because what he got, accumulated without any exertion and anxiety on his part."
While the dispute went on, Moody once tried to say something upon our side. Tom Davies clapped him on the back, to encourage him. Beauclerk, to whom I mentioned this circumstance, said, that
"he could not conceive a more humiliating situation than to be clapped on the back by Tom Davies."
We spoke of Rolt, to whose Dictionary of Commerce, Dr. Johnson wrote the Preface. JOHNSON.
"Old Gardner the bookseller employed Rolt and Smart to write a monthly miscellany, called 'The Visitor.' There was a formal written contract, which Allen the printer saw. Gardner thought as you do of the Judge. They were bound to write nothing else. They were to have, I think, a third of the profits of this sixpenny pamphlet; and the contract was for ninety-nine years. I wish I had thought of giving this to Thurlow, in the cause about Literary Property. What an excellent instance would it have been of the oppression of booksellers towards poor authours!"
(smiling). Davies, zealous for the honour of
the Trade,
said, Gardner was not properly a bookseller. JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir▪ he certainly was a bookseller. He had served his time regularly, was a member of the Stationers' company, kept a shop in the face of mankind, purchased copy-right, and was a
bibliopole,
Sir, in every sense. I wrote for some months in 'The Visitor,' for poor Smart, while he was mad, not then knowing the terms on which he was engaged to write, and thinking I was doing him good. I hoped his wits would soon return to him. Mine returned to me, and I wrote in 'The Visitor' no longer.
Friday, April 7, I dined with him at a tavern, with a numerous company. JOHNSON.
"I have been reading 'Twiss's Travels in Spain,' which are just come out. They are as good as the first book of travels that you will take up▪ They are as good as those of Keysler or Blainville; nay, as Addison's, if you except the learning. They are not so good as Brydone's, but they are better than Pococke's. I have not, indeed, cut the leaves yet; but I have read in them where the pages are open, and I do not suppose that what is in the pages which are closed is worse than what is in the open pages.—It would seem (he added,) that Addison had not acquired much Italian learning, for we do not find it introduced into his writings. The only instance that I recollect, is his quoting
'Stavo bene. Per star meglio, sto qui."
I mentioned Addison's having borrowed many of his classical remarks from Leandro Alberti. Mr. Beauclerk said,
"It was alledged that he had borrowed also from another Italian authour."
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, all who go to look for what the Classicks have said of Italy must find the same passages; and I should think it would be one of the first things the Italians would do on the revival of learning, to collect all that the Roman authours had said of their country."
Ossian being mentioned;—JOHNSON.
"Supposing the Irish and Erse languages to be the same, which I do not believe, yet as there is no reason to suppose that the inhabitants of the Highlands and Hebrides ever wrote their native language, it is not to be credited that a long poem was preserved among them. If we had no evidence of the art of writing being practised in one of the counties of England, we should not believe that a long poem was preserved
there,
though in the neighbouring counties, where the same language was spoken, the inhabitants could write."
BEAUCLERK.
"The ballad of Lullabalero was once in the mouths of all the people of this country, and is said to have had a great effect in bringing about the Revolution. Yet I question whether any body can repeat it now; which shews how improbable it is that much poetry should be preserved by tradition."
One of the company suggested an internal objection to the antiquity of the poetry said to be Ossian's, that we do not find the wolf in it, which must have been the case had it been of that age.
The mention of the wolf had led Johnson to think of other wild beasts; and while Sir Joshua Reynolds and Mr. Langton were carrying on a dialogue about something which engaged them earnestly, he, in the midst of it, broke out,
"Pennant tells of Bears—"
[what he added, I have forgotten.] They went on, which he being dull of hearing, did not perceive, or, if he did, was not willing to break off his talk; so he continued to vociferate his remarks, and
Bear
(
"like a word in a catch,"
as Beauclerk said,) was repeatedly heard at intervals, which coming from him who, by those who did not know him, had been so often assimilated to that ferocious animal, while we who were sitting around could hardly stifle laughter, produced a very ludicrous effect. Silence having ensued, he proceeded:
"We are told, that the black bear is innocent; but I should not like to trust myself with him."
Mr. Gibbon muttered, in a low tone of voice,
"I should not like to trust myself with
you."
This piece of sarcastick pleasantry was a prudent resolution, if applied to a competition of abilities.
Patriotism having become one of our topicks, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, an apothegm, at which many will start:
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak for self-interest. I▪ maintained, that certainly all patriots were not scoundrels. Being urged (not by Johnson,) to name one exception, I mentioned an eminent person, whom we all greatly admired. JOHNSON.
"Sir, I do not say that he is
not
honest; but we have no reason to conclude from his political conduct that he
is
honest. Were he to accept of a place from this ministry, he would lose that character of firmness which he has, and might be turned out of his place in a year. This ministry is neither stable, nor grateful to their friends, as Sir Robert Walpole was: so that he may think it more for his interest to take his chance of his party coming in."
Mrs. Pritchard being mentioned, he said,
"Her playing was quite mechanical. It is wonderful how little mind she had. Sir, she had never read the tragedy of Macbeth all through. She no more thought of the play out of which her part was taken, than a shoemaker thinks of the skin, out of which the piece of leather, of which he is making a pair of shoes, is cut.
On Saturday, May 8, I dined with him at Mr. Thrale's, where we met the Irish Dr. Campbell. Johnson had supped the night before at Mrs. Abington's, with some fashionable people whom he named; and he seemed much pleased with having made one in so elegant a circle.
Mrs. Thrale, who frequently practised a coarse mode of flattery, by repeating his
bon mots
in his hearing, told us that he had said, a certain celebrated actor was just fit to stand at the door of an auction-room, with a long pole, and cry,
"Pray, gentlemen, walk in;"
and that a certain authour, upon hearing this, had said, that another still more celebrated actor was fit for nothing better than that, and would pick your pocket after you came out. JOHNSON.
"Nay, my dear lady, there is no wit in what our friend added; there is only abuse. You may as well say of any man that he will pick a pocket. Besides, the man who is stationed at the door does not pick people's pockets: that is done within, by the auctioneer."
Mrs. Thrale told us, that Tom Davies repeated, in a very bald manner, the story of Dr. Johnson's first repartee to me, which I have related exactly
Page 211.
. He made me say,
"I
was born
in Scotland,"
instead of
"I
come from
Scotland;"
so that Johnson's saying,
"That, Sir, is what a great many of your countrymen cannot help,"
had no point, or even meaning: and that upon this being mentioned to Mr. Fitzherbert, he observed,
"It is not every man that can
carry
a
bon mot."
On Monday, April 10, I dined with him at General Oglethorpe's, with Mr. Langton and the Irish Dr. Campbell, whom the General had obligingly given me leave to bring with me. This learned gentleman was thus gratified with a very high intellectual feast, by not only being in company with Dr. Johnson, but with General Oglethorpe, who had been so long a celebrated name both at home and abroad
Let me here be allowed to pay my tribute of most sincere gratitude to the memory of that excellent person, my intimacy with whom was the more valuable to me, because my first acquaintance with him was unexpected and unsolicited. Soon after the publication of my
"Account of Corsica,"
he did me the honour to call on me, and approaching me with a frank courteous air, said,
"My name, Sir, is Oglethorpe, and I wish to be acquainted with you."
I was not a little slattered to be thus addressed by an eminent man, of whom I had read in Pope, from my early years,
"Or, driven by strong benevolence of soul,
"Will fly, like OGLETHORPE, from pole to pole."
I was fortunate▪ enough to be found worthy of his good opinion, insomuch, that I not only was invited to make one in the many respectable companies whom he entertained at his table, but had a cover at his hospitable
rd every day when I happened to be disengaged; and in his society I never failed to enjoy learned and animated conversation, seasoned with genuine sentiments of virtue and religion.
.
I must, again and again, intreat of my readers not to suppose that my imperfect record of conversation contains the whole of what was said by Johnson, or other eminent persons who lived with him. What I have preserved, however, has the value of the most perfect authenticity.
He this day enlarged upon Pope's melancholy remark,
"Man never
is,
but always
to be
blest."
He asserted, that
the present
was never a happy state to any human being; but that, as every part of life, of which we are conscious, was at some point of time a period yet to come, in which felicity was expected, there was some happiness produced by hope. Being pressed upon this subject, and asked if he really was of opinion that though, in general, happiness was very rare in human life, a man was not sometimes happy in the moment that was present, he answered,
"Never, but when he is drunk."
He urged General Oglethorpe to give the world his Life. He said,
"I know no man whose Life would be more interesting. If I were furnished with materials, I should be very glad to write it
The General seemed unwilling to enter upon it at this time; but upon a subsequent occasion he communicated to me a number of particulars, which I have committed to writing; but I was not sufficiently diligent in obtaining more from him, not apprehending that his friends were so soon to lose him; for notwithstanding his great age, he was very healthy and vigorous, and was at last carried off by a violent fever, which is often fatal at any period of life.
."
Mr. Scott of Amwell's Elegies were lying in the room. Dr. Johnson observed,
"They are very well; but such as twenty people might write."
Upon this I took occasion to controvert Horace's maxim,
"—mediocribus esse poetis
"Non Di, non bomines, non concessere columnae."
for here (I observed,) was a very middle-rate poet, who pleased many readers, and therefore poetry of a middle sort was entitled to some esteem; nor could I see why poetry should not, like every thing else, have different gradations of excellence, and, consequently of value. Johnson repeated the common remark, that
"as there is no necessity for our having poetry at all, it being merely a luxury, an instrument of pleasure, it can have no value, unless when exquisite in its kind."
I declared myself not satisfied.
"Why then, Sir, (said he,) Horace and you must settle it."
He was not much in the humour of talking.
No more of his conversation for some days appears in my journal, except that when a gentleman told him he had bought a suit of laces for his lady. He said,
"Well, Sir, you have done a good thing, and a wise thing."
"I have done a good thing, (said the gentleman,) but I do not know that I have done a wise thing."
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir; no money is better spent than what is laid out for domestick satisfaction. A man is pleased that his wife is drest as well as other people; and a wife is pleased that she is drest."
On Friday, April 14, being Good-Friday, I repaired to him in the morning, according to my usual custom on this day, and breakfasted with him. I observed that he fasted so very strictly, that he did not even taste bread, and took no milk with his tea, I suppose because it is a kind of animal food.
He entered upon the state of the nation, and thus discoursed:
"Sir, the great misfortune now is, that government has too little power. All that it has to bestow, must of necessity be given to support itself; so that it cannot reward merit. No man, for instance, can now be made a Bishop for his learning and piety
From this too just observation there are some eminent exceptions.
; his only chance for promotion is his being connected with somebody who has parliamentary interest. Our several ministries in this reign have outbid each other in concessions to the people. Lord Bute, though a very honourable man,—a man who meant well,—a man who had his blood full of prerogative,—was a theoretical statesman,—a book-minister,—and thought this country could be governed by the influence of the Crown alone. Then, Sir, he gave up a great deal. He advised the King to agree that the Judges should hold their places for life, instead of losing them at the accession of a new King. Lord Bute, I suppose, thought to make the King popular by this concession; but the people never minded it; and it was a most impolitick measure. There is no reason why a Judge should hold his office for life, more than any other person in publick trust. A Judge may be partial otherwise than to the Crown: we have seen Judges partial to the populace. A Judge may become corrupt, and yet there may not be legal evidence against him. A Judge may become froward from age. A Judge may grow unfit for his office in many ways. It was desirable that there should be a possibility of being delivered from him by a new King. That is now gone by an act of parliament
ex gratiâ
of the Crown. Lord Bute advised the King to give up a very large sum of money
The money arising from the property of the prizes taken before the declaration of war, which were given to his Majesty by the peace of Paris, and amounted to upwards of 700,000l. and from the lands in the ceded islands, which were estimated at 200,000l. more. Surely, there was a noble munificence in this gift from a Monarch to his people. And let it be remembered, that during the Earl of Bute's administration, the King was graciously pleased to give up the hereditary revenues of the Crown, and to accept, instead of them, of the limited sum of 800,000l. a year; upon which Blackstone observes, that
"The hereditary revenues, being put under the same management as the other branches of the publick patrimony, will produce more, and be better collected than heretofore; and the publick is a gainer of upwards of 100,000l.
per annum,
by this disinterested bounty of his Majesty."
Book I. Chap. 8. p. 330.
, for which nobody thanked him. It was of consequence to the King, but nothing to the publick, among whom it was divided. When I say Lord Bute advised, I mean, that such acts were done when he was minister, and we are to suppose that he advised them.—Lord Bute shewed an undue partiality to Scotchmen. He turned out Dr. Nichols, a very eminent man, from being physician to the King, to make room for one of his countrymen, a man very low in his profession. He had *********** and **** to go on errands for him. He had occasion for people to go on errands for him; but he should not have had Scotchmen; and, certainly, he should not have suffered them to have access to him before the first people in England."
I told him, that the admission of one of them before the first people in England, which had given the greatest offence, was no more than what happens at every minister's levee, where those who attend are admitted in the order that they have come, which is better than admitting them according to their rank; for if that were to be the rule, a man who has waited all the morning might have the mortification to see a peer, newly come, go in before him, and keep him waiting still. JOHNSON.
"True, Sir; but **** should not have come to the levee, to be in the way of people of consequence. He saw Lord Bute at all times; and could have said what he had to say at any time, as well as at the levee. There is now no Prime Minister: there is only an agent for government in the House of Commons. We are governed by the Cabinet; but there is no one head there, as in Sir Robert Walpole's time."
BOSWELL.
"What then, Sir, is the use of Parliament?"
JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, Parliament is a larger council to the King; and the advantage of such a council is, having a great number of men of property concerned in the legislature, who, for their own interest, will not consent to bad laws. And you must have observed, Sir, that administration is feeble and timid, and cannot act with that authority and resolution which is necessary. Were I in power, I would turn out every man who dared to oppose me. Government has the distribution of offices, that it may be enabled to maintain its authority."
"Lord Bute (he added,) took down too fast, without building up something new."
BOSWELL.
"Because, Sir, he found a rotten building. The political coach was drawn by a set of bad horses: it was necessary to change them."
JOHNSON.
"But he should have changed them one by one."
I told him that I had been informed by Mr. Orme, that many parts of the East Indies were better mapped than the Highlands of Scotland. JOHNSON.
"That a country may be mapped, it must be travelled over."
"Nay, (said I, meaning to laugh with him at one of his prejudices,) can't you say, it is not
worth
mapping?"
As we walked to St. Clement's church, and saw several shops open upon this most solemn fast-day of the Christian world, I remarked, that one disadvantage arising from the immensity of London, was, that nobody was heeded by his neighbour; there was no fear of censure for not observing Good-Friday, as it ought to be kept, and as it is kept in country towns. He said, it was, upon the whole, very well observed even in London. He, however, owned, that London was too large; but added,
"It is nonsense to say the head is too big for the body. It would be as much too big, though the body were ever so large; that is to say, though the country were ever so extensive. It has no similarity to a head connected with a body."
Dr. Wetherell, Master of University College, Oxford, accompanied us home from church; and after he was gone, there came two other gentlemen, one of whom uttered the common-place complaints, that by the increase of taxes, labour would be dear, other nations would undersell us, and our commerce would be ruined. JOHNSON, (smiling).
"Never fear, Sir. Our commerce is in a very good state; and suppose we had no commerce at all, we could live very well on the produce of our own country."
I cannot omit to mention, that I never knew any man who was less disposed to be querulous than Johnson. Whether the subject was his own situation, or the state of the publick, or the state of human nature in general, though he saw the evils, his mind was turned to resolution, and never to whining or complaint.
We went again to St. Clement's in the afternoon. He had found fault with the preacher in the morning for not choosing a text adapted to the day. The preacher in the afternoon had chosen one extremely proper:
"It is finished."
After the evening service, he said,
"Come, you shall go home with me, and sit just an hour."
But he was better than his word; for after we had drunk tea with Mrs. Williams, he asked me to go up to his study with him, where we sat a long while together in a serene undisturbed frame of mind▪ sometimes in silence, and sometimes conversing, as we felt ourselves inclined, or more properly speaking, as
he
was inclined; for during all the course of my long intimacy with him, my respectful attention never abated, and my wish to hear him was such, that I constantly watched every dawning of communication from that great and illuminated mind.
He observed,
"All knowledge is of itself of some value. There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable, that I would not rather know it than not. In the same manner, all power, of whatever sort, is of itself desirable. A man would not submit to learn to hem a ruffle, of his wise, or his wife's maid; but if a mere wish could attain it, he would rather wish to be able to hem a ruffle."
He again advised me to keep a journal fully and minutely, but not to mention such trifles as, that meat was too much or too little done, or that the weather was fair or rainy. He had, till very near his death, a contempt for the notion that the weather affects the human frame.
I told him that our friend Goldsmith had said to me, that he had come too late into the world, for that Pope and other poets had taken up the places in the Temple of Fame; so that as but a few at any period can possess poetical reputation, a man of genius can now hardly acquire it. JOHNSON.
"That is one of the most sensible things I have ever heard of Goldsmith. It is difficult to get literary fame, and it is every day growing more difficult. Ah, Sir, that should make a man think of securing happiness in another world, which all who try sincerely for it may attain. In comparison of that, how little are all other things! The belief of immortality is impressed upon all men, and all men act under an impression of it, however they may talk, and though, perhaps, they may be scarcely sensible of it."
I said, it appeared to me that some people had not the least notion of immortality; and I mentioned a distinguished gentleman of our acquaintance. JOHNSON.
"Sir, if it were not for the notion of immortality, he would cut a throat to fill his pockets."
When I quoted this to Beauclerk, who knew much more of the gentleman than we did, he said, in his acid manner,
"He would cut a throat to fill his pockets, if it were not for fear of being hanged."
Dr. Johnson proceeded:
"Sir, there is a great cry about infidelity; but there are, in reality, very few infidels. I have heard a person, originally a Quaker, but now, I am afraid, a Deist, say, that he did not believe there were, in all England, above two hundred infidels."
He was pleased to say,
"If you come to settle here, we will have one day in the week on which we will meet by ourselves. That is the happiest conversation where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm quiet interchange of sentiments."
In his private register this evening is thus marked,
"Boswell sat with me till night; we had some serious talk
Prayers and Meditations, p. 138.
."
It also appears from the same record, that after I left him he was occupied in religious duties, in
"giving Francis, his servant, some directions for preparation to communicate; in reviewing his life, and resolving on better conduct."
The humility and piety which he discovers on such occasions, is truly edifying. No saint, however, in the course of his religious warfare, was more sensible of the unhappy failure of pious resolves, than Johnson. He said one day, talking to an acquaintance on this subject,
"Sir, Hell is paved with good intentions."
On Sunday, April 16, being Easter-day, after having attended the solemn service at St. Paul's, I dined with Dr. Johnson and Mrs. Williams. I maintained that Horace was wrong in placing happiness in
Nil admirari,
for that I thought admiration one of the most agreeable of all our feelings; and I regretted that I had lost much of my disposition to admire, which people generally do as they advance in life. JOHNSON.
"Sir, as a man advances in life, he gets what is better than admiration,—judgement, to estimate things at their true value."
I still insisted that admiration was more pleasing than judgement, as love is more pleasing than friendship. The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast-beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne. JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; admiration and love are like being intoxicated with champagne; judgement and friendship like being enlivened. Waller has hit upon the same thought with you
"Amoret's as sweet and good
"As the most delicious food;
"Which but tasted does impart
"Life and gladness to the heart.
"Sacharissa's beauty's wine,
"Which to madness does incline;
"Such a liquor as no brain
"That is mortal can sustain."
: but I don't believe you have borrowed from Waller. I wish you would enable yourself to borrow more."
He then took occasion to enlarge on the advantages of reading, and combated the idle superficial notion, that knowledge enough may be acquired in conversation.
"The foundation (said he,) must be laid by reading. General principles must be had from books, which, however, must be brought to the test of real life. In conversation you never get a system. What is said upon a subject is to be gathered from a hundred people. The parts of a truth, which a man gets thus, are at such a distance from each other, that he never attains to a full view."
On Tuesday, April 18, he and I were engaged to go with Sir Joshua Reynolds to dine with Mr. Cambridge, at his beautiful villa on the banks of the Thames, near Twickenham. Dr. Johnson's tardiness was such, that Sir Joshua, who had an appointment at Richmond early in the day, was obliged to go by himself on horseback, leaving his coach to Johnson and me. Johnson was in such good spirits, that every thing seemed to please him as we drove along.
Our conversation turned on a variety of subjects. He thought portraitpainting an improper employment for a woman.
"Publick practice of any art, (he observed,) and staring in men's faces, is very indelicate in a female."
I happened to start a question of propriety, whether when a man knows that some of his intimate friends are invited to the house of another friend, with whom they are all equally intimate, he may join them without an invitation. JOHNSON.
"No, Sir; he is not to go when he is not invited. They may be invited on purpose to abuse him,"
(smiling).
As a curious instance how little a man knows, or wishes to know, his own character in the world, or, rather, as a convincing proof that Johnson's roughness was only external, and did not proceed from his heart, I insert the following dialogue. JOHNSON.
"It is wonderful, Sir, how rare a quality good humour is in life. We meet with very few good humoured men."
I mentioned four of our friends, none of whom he would allow to be good humoured. One was
acid,
another was
muddy,
and to the others he had objections which have escaped me. Then, shaking his head and stretching himself at his ease in the coach, and smiling with much complacency, he turned to me and said,
"I look upon
myself
as a good humoured fellow."
The epithet
fellow,
applied to the great Lexicographer, the stately Moralist, the masterly Critick, as if he had been
Sam
Johnson, a mere pleasant companion, was highly diverting; and this light notion of himself struck me with wonder. I answered, also smiling,
"No, no, Sir; that will
not
do. You are good natured, but not good humoured: you are irascible. You have not patience with folly and absurdity. I believe you would pardon them, if there were time to deprecate your vengeance; but punishment follows so quick after sentence, that they cannot escape."
I had brought with me a great bundle of Scotch magazines and newspapers, in which his
"Journey to the Western Islands"
was attacked in every mode; and I read a great part of them to him, knowing they would afford him entertainment. I wish the writers of them had been present: they would have been sufficiently vexed. One ludicrous imitation of his style, by Mr. Maclaurin, now one of the Scotch Judges, with the title of Lord Dreghorn, was distinguished by him from the rude mass.
"This (said he,) is the best. But I could caricature my own style much better myself."
He defended his remark upon the general insufficiency of education in Scotland; and confirmed to me the authenticity of his witty saying on the learning of the Scotch;—
"Their learning is like bread in a besieged town: every man gets a little, but no man gets a full meal."
"There is (said he,) in Scotland a diffusion of learning, a certain portion of it widely and thinly spread. A merchant there has as much learning as one of their clergy."
He talked of Isaac Walton's Lives, which was one of his most favourite books. Dr. Donne's Life, he said, was the most perfect of them. He observed, that
"it was wonderful that Walton, who was in a very low situation in life, should have been familiarly received by so many great men, and that at a time when the ranks of society were kept more separate than they are now."
He supposed that Walton had then given up his business as a linen-draper and sempster, and was only an authour; and added,
"that he was a great panegyrist."
BOSWELL.
"No quality will get a man more friends than a disposition to admire the qualities of others. I do not mean flattery, but a sincere admiration."
JOHNSON.
"Nay, Sir, flattery pleases very generally. In the first place, the flatterer may think what he says to be true: but, in the second place, whether he thinks so or not, he certainly thinks those whom he flatters of consequence enough to be flattered."
No sooner had we made our bow to Mr. Cambridge, in his library, than Johnson ran eagerly to one side of the room, intent on poring over the backs of the books. Sir Joshua observed, (aside,)
"He runs to the books, as I do to the pictures: but I have the advantage. I can see much more of the pictures than he can of the books."
Mr. Cambridge, upon this, politely said,
"Dr. Johnson, I am going, with your pardon, to accuse myself, for I have the same custom which I perceive you have. But it seems odd that one should have such a desire to look at the backs of books."
Johnson, ever ready for contest, instantly started from his reverie, wheeled about, and answered,
"Sir, the reason is very plain. Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. When we inquire into any subject, the first thing we have to do is to know what books have treated of it. This leads us to look at catalogues, and at the backs of books in libraries."
Sir Joshua observed to me, the extraordinary promptitude with which Johnson flew upon an argument.
"Yes, (said I,) he has no formal preparation, no flourishing with his sword; he is through your body in an instant."
Johnson was here solaced with an elegant entertainment, a very accomplished family, and much good company; among whom was Mr. Harris of Salisbury, who paid him many compliments on his
"Journey to the Western Islands."
The common remark as to the utility of reading history being made;—JOHNSON.
"We must consider how very little history there is; I mean real authentick history. That certain Kings reigned, and certain battles were fought, we can depend upon as true; but all the colouring, all the philosophy, of history is conjecture."
BOSWELL.
"Then, Sir, you would reduce all history to no better than an almanack, a mere chronological series of remarkable events."
Mr. Gibbon, who must at that time have been employed upon his history, of which he published the first volume in the following year, was present, but did not step forth in defence of that species of writing. He probably did not like to
trust
himself with Johnson
See page 478.
.
Johnson observed, that the force of our early habits was so great, that though reason approved, nay, though our senses relished a different course, almost every man returned to them. I do not believe there is any observation upon human nature better founded than this; and, in many cases, it is a very painful truth; for where early habits have been mean and wretched, the joy and elevation resulting from better modes of life, must be damped by the gloomy consciousness of being under an almost inevitable doom to sink back into a situation which we recollect with disgust. It surely may be prevented, by constant attention and unremitting exertion to establish contrary habits of superiour efficacy.
"The Beggars Opera,"
and the common question, whether it was pernicious in its effects, having been introduced;—JOHNSON.
"As to this matter, which has been very much contested, I myself am of opinion, that more influence has been ascribed to 'The Beggars Opera,' than it in reality ever had; for I do not believe that any man was ever made a rogue by being present at its representation. At the same time I do not deny that it may have some influence, by making the character of a rogue familiar, and in some degree pleasing
A very eminent physician, whose discernment is as acute and penetrating in judging of the human character as it is in his own profession, remarked once at a club where I was, that a lively young man, fond of pleasure and without money, would hardly resist a solicitation from his mistress to go upon the highway, immediately after being present at the representation of
"The Beggars Opera."
I have been told of an ingenious observation by Mr. Gibbon, that
"The Beggars Opera may, perhaps, have sometimes increased the number of highwaymen; but that it has had a beneficial effect in refining that class of men, making them less ferocious, more polite, in short, more like gentlemen."
Upon this Mr. Courtenay said, that
"Gay was the Orpheus of highwaymen."
."
Then collecting himself, as it were, to give a heavy stroke:
"There is in it such a
labefactation
of all principles, as may be injurious to morality."
While he pronounced this response, we sat in a comical sort of restraint, smothering a laugh, which we were afraid might burst out. In his Life of Gay, he has been still more decisive as to the inefficiency of
"The Beggars Opera,"
in corrupting society. But I have ever thought somewhat differently; for, indeed, not only are the gaiety and heroism of a highwayman very captivating to a youthful imagination, but the arguments for adventurous depredation are so plausible, the allusions so lively, and the contrasts with the ordinary and more painful modes of acquiring property are so artfully displayed, that it requires a cool and strong judgement to resist so imposing an aggregate: yet, I own, I should be very sorry to have
"The Beggars Opera"
suppressed; for there is in it so much of real London life, so much brilliant wit, and such a variety of airs, which, from early association of ideas, engage, soothe, and enliven the mind, that no performance which the theatre exhibits, delights me more.
The late
"worthy"
Duke of Queensberry, as Thomson, in his
"Seasons,"
justly characterises him, told me, that when Gay first shewed him
"The Beggars Opera,"
his Grace's observation was,
"This is a very odd thing, Gay; I am satisfied that it is either a very good thing, or a very bad thing."
It proved the former, beyond the warmest expectations of the authour or his friends. Mr. Cambridge, however, shewed us to day, that there was good reason enough to doubt concerning its success. He was told by Quin, that during the first night of its appearance it was long in a very dubious state; that there was a disposition to damn it, and that it was saved by the song,
"Oh ponder well, be not severe."
Quin himself had so bad an opinion of it, that he refused the part of Captain Macheath, and gave it to Walker, who acquired great celebrity by his grave yet animated performance of it.
We talked of a young gentleman's marriage with an eminent singer, and his determination that she should no longer sing in publick, though his father was very earnest she should, because her talents would be liberally rewarded so as to make her a good fortune. It was questioned whether the young gentleman, who had not a shilling in the world, but was blest with very uncommon talents, was not foolishly delicate, or foolishly proud, and his father truly rational without being mean. Johnson, with all the high spirit of a Roman senator, exclaimed,
"He resolved wisely and nobly to be sure. He is a brave man. Would not a gentleman be disgraced by having his wife singing publickly for hire? No, Sir, there can be no doubt here. I know not if I should not
prepare
myself for a publick singer, as readily as let my wife be one."
Johnson arraigned the modern politicks of this country, as entirely devoid of all principle of whatever kind.
"Politicks (said he) are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole view do men engage in politicks, and their whole conduct proceeds upon it. How different in that respect is the state of the nation now from what it was in the time of Charles the First, during the Usurpation, and after the Restoration, in the time of Charles the Second. Hudibras affords a strong proof how much hold political principles had then upon the minds of men. There is in Hudibras a great deal of bullion, which will always last. But to be sure the brightest strokes of his wit owed their force to the impression of the characters, which was upon men's minds at the time; to their knowing them, at table and in the street; in short, being familiar with them; and above all, to his satire being directed against those whom a little while before they had hated and feared. The nation in general has ever been loyal, has been at all times attached to the monarch, though a few daring rebels have been wonderfully powerful for a time. The murder of Charles the First was undoubtedly not committed with▪ the approbation or consent of the people. Had that been the case, parliament would not have ventured to consign the regicides to their deserved punishment. And we know what exuberance of joy there was when Charles the Second was restored. If Charles the Second had bent all his mind to it, had made it his sole object, he might have been as absolute as Louis the Fourteenth."
A gentleman observed he would have done no harm if he had. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, absolute princes seldom do any harm. But they who are governed by them are governed by chance. There is no security for good government."
CAMBRIDGE.
"There have been many sad victims to absolute power."
JOHNSON.
"So, Sir, have there been to popular factions."
BOSWELL.
"The question is, which is worst, one wild beast or many?"
Johnson praised
"The SPECTATOR,"
particularly the character of Sir Roger de Coverley. He said,
"Sir Roger did not die a violent death, as has been generally fancied. He was not killed; he died only because others were to die, and because his death afforded an opportunity to Addison for some very fine writing. We have the example of Cervantes màking Don Quixote die.—I never could see why Sir Roger is represented as a little cracked. It appears to me that the story of the widow was intended to have something superinduced upon it: but the superstructure did not come."
Somebody found fault with writing verses in a dead language, maintaining that they were merely arrangements of so many words, and laughed at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, for sending forth collections of them not only in Greek and Latin, but even in Syriack, Arabick, and other more unknown tongues. JOHNSON.
"I would have as many of these as possible; I would have verses in every language that there are the means of acquiring. Nobody imagines that an University is to have at once two hundred poets; but it should be able to shew two hundred scholars. Peires
's death was lamented, I think, in forty languages. And I would have at every coronation, and every death of a King, every
Gaudium,
and every
Luctus,
University verses in as many languages as can be acquired. I would have the world to be thus told, 'Here is a school where every thing may be learnt."
Having set out next day on a visit to the Earl of Pembroke, at Wilton, and to my friend, Mr. Temple, at Mamhead, in Devonshire, and not having returned to town till the second of May, I did not see Dr. Johnson for a considerable time, and during the remaining part of my stay in London, kept very imperfect notes of his conversation, which had I according to my usual custom written out at large soon after the time, much might have been preserved, which is now irretrievably lost. I can now only record some particular scenes, and a few fragments of his
memorabilia.
But to make some amends for my relaxation of diligence in one respect, I have to present my readers with arguments upon two law cases, with which he favoured me.
On Saturday, the sixth of May, we dined by ourselves at the Mitre, and he dictated to me what follows, to obviate the complaint already mentioned
Page 443.
, which had been made in the form of an action in the Court of Session, by Dr. Memis, of Aberdeen, that in the same translation of a charter in which
physicians
were mentioned, he was called
Doctor of Medicine.
THERE are but two reasons for which a physician can decline the title of
Doctor of Medicine,
because he supposes himself disgraced by the doctorship, or supposes the doctorship disgraced by himself. To be disgraced by a title which he shares in common with every illustrious name of his profession, with Boerhaave, with Arbuthnot, and with Cullen, can surely diminish no man's reputation. It is, I suppose, to the doctorate, from which he shrinks, that he owes his right of practising physick. A Doctor of Medicine is a physician under the protection of the laws, and by the stamp of authority. The physician who is not a Doctor, usurps a profession, and is authorised only by himself to decide upon health and sickness, and life and death. That this gentleman is a Doctor, his diploma makes evident; a diploma not obtruded upon him, but obtained by solicitation, and for which fees were paid. With what countenance any man can refuse the title which he has either begged or bought, is not easily discovered.
All verbal injury must comprise in it either some false position, or some unnecessary declaration of defamatory truth. That in calling him Doctor, a false appellation was given him, he himself will not pretend, who at the same time that he complains of the title, would be offended if we supposed him to be not a Doctor. If the title of Doctor be a defamatory truth, it is time to dissolve our colleges, for why should the publick give salaries to men whose approbation is reproach? It may likewise deserve the notice of the publick to consider what help can be given to the professors of physick, who all share with this unhappy gentleman the ignominious appellation, and of whom the very boys in the street are not afraid to say,
There goes the Doctor.
What is implied by the term Doctor is well known. It distinguishes him to whom it is granted, as a man who has attained such knowledge of his profession as qualifies him to instruct others. A Doctor of Laws is a man who can form lawyers by his precepts. A Doctor of Medicine is a man who can teach the art of curing diseases. There is an old axiom which no man has yet thought fit to deny,
Nil dat quod non habet.
Upon this principle to be a Doctor implies skill, for
nemo docet quod non didicit.
In England, whoever practises physick, not being a Doctor, must practice by a licence: but the doctorate conveys a licence in itself.
By what accident it happened that he and the other physicians were mentioned in different terms, where the terms themselves were equivalent, or where in effect that which was applied to him was the more honourable, perhaps they who wrote the paper cannot now remember. Had they expected a lawsuit to have been the consequence of such petty variation, I hope they would have avoided it
In justice to Dr. Memis, though I was against him as an Advocate, I must mention, that he objected to the variation very earnestly, before the translation was printed off.
. But, probably, as they meant no ill, they suspected no danger, and, therefore, consulted only what appeared to them propriety or convenience.
A few days afterwards I consulted him upon a cause,
Paterson and others
against
Alexander and others,
which had been decided by a casting vote in the Court of Session, determining that the Corporation of Stirling was corrupt, and setting aside the election of some of their officers, because it was proved that three of the leading men who influenced the majority, had entered into an unjustifiable compact, of which, however, the majority were ignorant. He dictated to me, after a little consideration, the following sentences upon the subject:
"THERE is a difference between majority and superiority; majority is applied to number, and superiority to power; and power like many other things, is to be estimated
non numero sed pondere.
Now though the greater
number
is not corrupt, the greater
weight
is corrupt, so that corruption predominates in the borough, taken
collectively,
though, perhaps, taken
numerically,
the greater part may be uncorrupt. That borough which is so constituted as to act corruptly, is in the eye of reason corrupt, whether it be by the uncontroulable power of a few, or by an accidental pravity of the multitude. The objection, in which is urged the injustice of making the innocent suffer with the guilty, is an objection not only against society, but against the possibility of society. All societies, great and small, subsist upon this condition; that as the individuals derive advantages from union, they may likewise suffer inconveniences; that as those who do nothing and sometimes those who do ill, will have the honours and emoluments of general virtue and general prosperity, so those likewise who do nothing or perhaps do well, must be involved in the consequences of predominant corruption."
This in my opinion was a very nice case; but the decision was affirmed in the House of Lords.
On Monday, May 8, we went together and visited the mansions of Bedlam. I had been informed that he had once been there before with Mr. Wedderburne, (now Lord Loughborough,) Mr. Murphy, and Mr. Foote; and I had heard Foote give a very entertaining account of Johnson's happening to have his attention arrested by a man who was very furious, and who, while beating his straw, supposed it to be William Duke of Cumberland, whom he was punishing for his cruelties in Scotland in 1746. There was nothing peculiarly remarkable this day; but the general contemplation of insanity was very affecting. I accompanied him home, and dined and drank tea with him.
Talking of an acquaintance of ours, distinguished for knowing an uncommon variety of miscellaneous articles both in antiquities and polite literature, he observed,
"You know, Sir, he runs about with little weight upon his mind."
And talking of another very ingenious gentleman, who from the warmth of his temper was at variance with many of his acquaintance, and wished to avoid them, he said,
"Sir, he leads the life of an outlaw."
On Friday, May 12, as he had been so good as to assign me a room in his house, where I might sleep occasionally, when I happened to sit with him to a late hour, I took possession of it this night, sound every thing in excellent order, and was attended by honest Francis with a most civil assiduity. I asked him whether I might go to a consultation with another lawyer upon Sunday, as that appeared to me to be doing work as much in my way, as if an artisan should work on the day appropriated for religious rest. JOHNSON.
"Why, Sir, when you are of consequence enough to oppose the practice of consulting upon Sunday, you should do it: but you may go now. It is not criminal, though it is not what one should do, who is anxious for the preservation and increase of piety, to which a peculiar observance of Sunday is a great help. The distinction is clear between what is of moral and what is of ritual obligation."
On Saturday, May 13, I breakfasted with him by invitation, accompanied by Mr. Andrew Crosbie, a Scotch Advocate, whom he had seen at Edinburgh, and the Hon. Colonel (now General) Edward Stopford, brother to Lord Courtown, who was desirous of being introduced to him. His tea and rolls and butter, and whole breakfast apparatus were all in such decorum, and his behaviour was so courteous, that Colonel Stopford was quite surprized, and wondered at his having heard so much said of Johnson's slovenliness and roughness. I have preserved nothing of what passed, except that Crosbie pleased him much by talking learnedly of alchymy, as to which Johnson was not a positive unbeliever, but rather delighted in considering what progress had actually been made in the transmutation of metals, what near approaches there had been to the making of gold; and told us that it was affirmed, that a person in the Russian dominions had discovered the secret, but died without revealing it, as imagining it would be prejudicial to society. He added, that it was not impossible but it might in time be generally known.
It being asked whether it was reasonable for a man to be angry at another whom a woman had preferred to him;—JOHNSON.
"I do not see, Sir, that it is reasonable for a man to be angry at another, whom a woman has preferred to him: but angry he is, no doubt; and he is loath to be angry at himself."
Before setting out for Scotland on the 23d, I was frequently in his company at different places, but during this period have recorded only two remarks: one concerning Garrick:
"He has not Latin enough. He finds out the Latin by the meaning, rather than the meaning by the Latin."
And another concerning writers of travels, who, he observed,
"were more defective than any other writers."
I passed many hours with him on the 17th, of which I find all my memorial is,
"much laughing."
It would seem he had that day been in a humour for jocularity and merriment, and upon such occasions I never knew a man laugh more heartily. We may suppose, that the high relish of a state so different from his habitual gloom, produced more than ordinary exertions of that distinguishing faculty of man, which has puzzled philosophers so much to explain. Johnson's laugh was as remarkable as any circumstance in his manner. It was a kind of good humoured growl. Tom Davies described it drolly enough:
"He laughs like a rhinoceros."
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
I MAKE no doubt but you are now safely lodged in your own habitation, and have told all your adventures to Mrs. Boswell and Miss Veronica. Pray teach Veronica to love me. Bid her not mind mamma.
Mrs. Thrale has taken cold, and been very much disordered, but I hope is grown well. Mr. Langton went yesterday to Lincolnshire, and has invited Nicolaida
A learned Greek.
to follow him. Beauclerk talks of going to Bath. I am to set out on Monday; so there is nothing but dispersion.
I have returned Lord Hailes's entertaining sheets, but must stay till I come back for more, because it will be inconvenient to send them after me in my vagrant state.
I promised Mrs. Macaulay
Wife of the Reverend Mr. Kenneth Macaulay, authour of
"The History of St. Kilda."
that I would try to serve her son at Oxford. I have not forgotten it, nor am unwilling to perform it. If they desire to give him an English education, it should be considered whether they cannot send him for a year or two to an English school. If he comes immediately from Scotland, he can make no figure in our Universities. The schools in the north, I believe, are cheap; and, when I was a young man, were eminently good.
There are two little books published by the Foulis, Telemachus and Collins's Poems, each a shilling; I would be glad to have them.
Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, though she does not love me. You see what perverse things ladies are, and how little fit to be trusted with feudal estates. When she mends and loves me, there may be more hope of her daughters.
I will not send compliments to my friends by name, because I would be loath to leave any out in the enumeration. Tell them, as you see them, how well I speak of Scotch politeness, and Scotch hospitality, and Scotch beauty, and of every thing Scotch, but Scotch oat-cakes and Scotch prejudices.
Let me know the answer of Rasay, and the decision relating to Sir Allan
A law-suit carried on by Sir Allan Maclean, Chief of his Clan, to recover certain parts of his family estate from the Duke of Argyle.
. I am, my dearest Sir, with great affection,
Your most obliged and most humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
May 27, 1775.
After my return to Scotland, I wrote three letters to him, from which I extract the following passages:
"I have seen Lord Hailes since I came down. He thinks it wonderful that you are pleased to take so much pains in revising his 'Annals.' I told him that you said you were well rewarded by the entertainment which you had in reading them."
"There has been a numerous flight of Hebrideans in Edinburgh this summer, whom I have been happy to entertain at my house. Mr. Donald Macqueen
A very learned minister in the Isle of Sky, whom both Dr. Johnson and I have mentioned with regard.
and Lord Monboddo supped with me one evening. They joined in controverting your proposition, that the Gaelick of the Highlands and Isles of Scotland was not written till of late."
"My mind has been somewhat dark this summer. I have need of your warming and vivifying rays; and I hope I shall have them frequently. I am going to pass some time with my father at Auchinleck."
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
I AM now returned from the annual ramble into the middle counties. Having seen nothing that I had not seen before, I have nothing to relate. Time has left that part of the island few antiquities; and commerce has left the people no singularities. I was glad to go abroad, and, perhaps, glad to come home; which is, in other words, I was, I am afraid, weary of being at home, and weary of being abroad. Is not this the state of life? But, if we confess this weariness, let us not lament it; for all the wise and all the good say, that we may cure it.
For the black fumes which rise in your mind, I can prescribe nothing but that you disperse them by honest business or innocent pleasure, and by reading sometimes easy and sometimes serious. Change of place is useful; and I hope that your residence at Auchinleck will have many good effects. * * * * * *.
That I should have given pain to Rasay, I am sincerely sorry; and am therefore very much pleased that he is no longer uneasy. He still thinks that I have represented him as personally giving up the Chieftainship. I meant only that it was no longe rcontested between the two houses, and supposed it settled, perhaps, by the cession of some remote generation, in the house of Dunvegan. I am sorry the advertisement was not continued for three or four times in the papers.
That Lord Monboddo and Mr. Macqueen should controvert a position contrary to the imaginary interest of literary or national prejudice, might be easily imagined; but of a standing fact there ought to be no controversy: If there are men with tails, catch an
homo caudatus;
if there was writing of old in the Highlands or Hebrides, in the Erse language, produce the manuscripts. Where men write, they will write to one another, and some of their letters, in families studious of their ancestry, will be kept. In Wales there are many manuscripts.
I have now three parcels of Lord Hailes's history, which I purpose to return all the next week: that his respect for my little observations should keep his work in suspense, makes one of the evils of my journey. It is in our language, I think, a new mode of history, which tells all that is wanted, and, I suppose, all that is known, without laboured splendour of language, or affected subtilty of conjecture. The exactness of his dates raises my wonder. He seems to have the closeness of Henault without his constraint.
Mrs. Thrale was so entertained with your 'Journal',' that she almost read herself blind. She has a great regard for you.
Of Mrs. Boswell, though she knows in her heart that she does not love me, I am always glad to hear any good, and hope that she and the little dear ladies will have neither sickness nor any other affliction. But she knows that she does not care what becomes of me, and for that she may be sure that I think her very much to blame.
Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head to think that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in full confidence both of my love and my esteem; I love you as a kind man, I value you as a worthy man, and hope in time to reverence you as a man of exemplary piety. I hold you as Hamlet has it,
'in my heart of heart,'
and▪ therefore, it is little to say,
My
"Journal of a Tour to the Hebride
,"
which that lady read in the original manuscript."
that I am, Sir, Your affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
London,
August, 27, 1775.
To the same.
SIR,
IF in these papers
Another parcel of Lord Hailes's
"Annals of Scotland."
, there is little alteration attempted, do not suppose me negligent. I have read them perhaps more closely than the rest; but I find nothing worthy of an objection.
Write to me soon, and write often, and tell me all your honest heart.
I am, Sir, Your's affectionately, SAM. JOHNSON.
August 30, 1775.
To the same.
MY DEAR SIR,
I NOW write to you, lest in some of your freaks and humours you should fancy yourself neglected. Such fancies I must entreat you never to admit, at least never to indulge, for my regard for you is so radicated and fixed, that it is become part of my mind, and cannot be effaced but by some cause uncommonly violent; therefore, whether I write or not, set your thoughts at rest. I now write to tell you that I shall not very soon write again, for I am to set out to-morrow on another journey.
* * * * * *
Your friends are all well at Streatham, and in Leicester-fields. Make my compliments to Mrs. Boswell, if she is in good humour with me.
I am, Sir, &c. SAM. JOHNSON.
September 14, 1775.
What he mentions in such light terms as,
"I am to set out to-morrow on another journey,"
I soon afterwards discovered was no less than a tour to France with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale. This was the only time in his life that he went upon the Continent.
To Dr.
SAMUEL JOHNSON.
Edinburgh,
Oct. 24, 1775.
MY DEAR SIR,
IF I had not been informed that you were at Paris, you should have had a letter from me by the earliest opportunity, announcing the birth of my Son, on the 9th instant; I have named him Alexander, after my father. I now write, as I suppose your fellow traveller, Mr. Thrale, will return to London this week to attend his duty in parliament, and that you will not stay behind him.
'I send another parcel of Lord Hailes's
"Annals."
I have undertaken to solicit you for a favour to him, which he thus requests in a letter to me:
"I intend soon to give you the 'Life of Robert Bruce,' which you will be pleased to transmit to Dr. Johnson. I wish that you could assist me in a fancy which I have taken, of getting Dr. Johnson to draw a character of Robert Bruce, from the account that I give of that prince. If he finds materials for it in my work, it will be proof that I have been fortunate in selecting the most striking incidents.'
I suppose by
'The Life of Robert Bruce,'
his Lordship means that part of his 'Annals' which relates the history of that prince, and not a separate work.
Shall we have
"A Journey to Paris"
from you in the winter? You will, I hope, at any rate be kind enough to give me some account of your French travels very soon, for I am very impatient. What a different scene have you viewed this autumn, from that which you viewed in autumn 1773!
I ever am, my dear Sir, Your much obliged, and affectionate humble servant, JAMES BOSWELL.
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
I AM glad that the young Laird is born, and an end, as I hope, put to the only difference that you can ever have with Mrs. Boswell
This alludes to my old feudal principle of preferring male to f
male
.
I know that she does not love me, but I intend to persist in wishing her well till I get the better of her.
Paris is, indeed, a place very different from the Hebrides, but it is to a hasty traveller not so sertile of novelty, nor affords so many opportunities of remark. I cannot pretend to tell the publick any thing of a place better known to many of my readers than to myself. We can talk of it when we meet.
I shall go next week to Streatham, from whence I purpose to send ▪ parcel of the 'History' every post. Concerning the character of Bruce, ▪ can only say, that I do not see any great reason for writing it, but I shall not easily deny what Lord Hailes and you concur in desiring.
I have been remarkably healthy all the journey, and hope you and your family have known only that trouble and danger which has so happily terminated. Among all the congratulations that you may receive, I hope you believe none more warm or sincere, than those of,
dear Sir,
Your most affectionate, SAM. JOHNSON.
November, 16, 1775.
To Mrs.
LUCY PORTER,
in Lichfield
There can be no doubt that many years previous to 1775, he corresponded with this lady, who was his step-daughter, but none of his earlier letters to her have been preserved.
.
DEAR MADAM,
THIS week I came home from Paris. I have brought you a little box, which I thought pretty; but I know not whether it is properly a snuff-box, or a box for some other use. I will send it, when I can find an opportunity. I have been through the whole journey remarkably well. My fellow-travellers were the same whom you saw at Lichfield, only we took Baretti with us. Paris is not so fine a place as you would expect. The palaces and churches, however, are very splendid and magnificent; and what would please you, there are many very fine pictures; but I do not think their way of life commodious or pleasant.
Let me know how your health has been all this while. I hope the fine summer has given you strength sufficient to encounter the winter.
Make my compliments to all my friends; and, if your fingers will let you, write to me, or let your maid write, if it be troublesome to you. I am,
dear Madam,
Your most affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
Nov. 16, 1775.
To the same.
DEAR MADAM,
SOME weeks ago I wrote to you, to tell you that I was just come home from a ramble, and hoped that I should have heard from you. I am afraid winter has laid hold on your fingers, and hinders you from writing. However, let somebody write, if you cannot, and tell me how you do, and a little of what has happened at Lichfield among our friends. I hope you are all well.
When I was in France, I thought myself growing young, but am afraid that cold weather will take part of my new vigour from me. Let us, however, take care of ourselves, and lose no part of our health by negligence.
I never knew whether you received the Commentary on the New Testament, and the Travels, and the glasses.
Do, my dear love, write to me; and do not let us forget each other▪ This is the season of good wishes, and I wish you all good. I have not lately seen Mr. Porter
Son of Mrs. Johnson, by her first husband.
, nor heard of him. Is he with you?
Be pleased to make my compliments to Mrs. Adey, and Mrs. Cobb, and all my friends; and when I can do any good, let me know.
I am, dear Madam, Yours most affectionately, SAM. JOHNSON.
December, 1775.
It is to be regretted, that he did not write an account of his travels in France; for as he is reported to have once said, that
"he could write the Life of a Broomstick,"
so, notwithstanding so many former travellers have exhausted almost every thing subject for remark in that great kingdom, his very accurate observation, and peculiar vigour of thought and illustration, would have produced a valuable work. During his visit to it, which lasted but about two months, he wrote notes or minutes of what he saw. He promised to shew me them, but I neglected to put him in mind of it; and the greatest part of them have been lost, or, perhaps, destroyed in that precipitate burning of his papers a few days before his death, which must ever be lamented: One small paper-book, however, entitled
"FRANCE, II."
has been preserved, and is in my possession. It is a diurnal register of his life and observations, from the 10th of October to the 4th of November, inclusive, being twenty-six days; and shews an extraordinary attention to various minute particulars. Being the only memorial of this tour that remains, my readers, I am confident, will peruse it with pleasure, though his notes are very short, and evidently written only to assist his own recollection.
Oct. 10. Tuesday. We saw the
Ecole Militaire,
in which one hundred and fifty young boys are educated for the army. They have arms of different sizes, according to the age;—flints of wood. The building is very large, but nothing fine, except the council-room. The French have large squares in the windows;—they make good iron palisades. Their meals are gross.
We visited the Observatory, a large building of a great height. The upper stones of the parapet very large; but not cramped with iron. The flat on the top is very extensive; but on the insulated part there is no parapet. Though it was broad enough, I did not care to go upon it. Maps were printing in one of the rooms.
We walked to a small convent of the Fathers of the Oratory. In the reading-desk of the refectory lay the Lives of the Saints.
Oct. 11. Wednesday. We went to see
Hôtel de Chatlois,
a house not very large, but very elegant. One of the rooms was gilt to a degree that I never saw before. The upper part for servants and their masters was pretty.
Thence we went to Mr. Monville's, a house divided into small apartments, furnished with effeminate and minute elegance.—Porphyry.
Thence we went to St. Roque's church, which is very large;—the lower part of the pillars incrusted with marble.—Three chapels behind the high altar;—the last a mass of low arches.—Altars, I believe, all round.
We passed through
Place de Vendō me,
a fine square, about as big as Hanover-square.—Inhabited by the high families.—Lewis XIV. on horseback in the middle.
Monville is the son of a farmer-general. In the house of Chatlois is a room furnished with japan, fitted up in Europe.
We dined with Boccage, the Marquis Blanchetti, and his lady.—The sweetmeats taken by the Marchioness Blanchetti, after observing that they were dear.—Mr. Le Roy, Count Manucci the Abbé, the Prior, and Father Wilson, who staid with me, till I took him home in the coach.
Bathiani is gone.
The French have no laws for the maintenance of their poor.—Monk not necessarily a priest.—Benedictines rise at four;—are at church an hour and half; at church again half an hour before, half an hour after dinner; and again from half an hour after seven to eight. They may sleep eight hours.—Bodily labour wanted in monasteries.
The poor taken to hospitals, and miserably kept.—Monks in the convent fi
teen:—accounted poor.
Oct. 12. Thursday. We went to the Gobelins.—Tapestry makes a good picture;—imitates flesh exactly.—One piece with a gold ground;—the birds not exactly coloured.—Thence we went to the King's cabinet;—very neat, not, perhaps, perfect.—Gold ore.—Candles of the candle-tree.—Seeds.— Woods.—Thence to Gagnier's house, where I saw rooms nine, furnished with a profusion of wealth and elegance which I never have seen before.—Vases.—Pictures.—The dragon china.—The lustre said to be of crystal, and to have cost 3, 500l.—The whole furniture said to have cost 125, 000l.—Damask hangings covered with pictures.—Porphyry.—This house struck me.—Then we waited on the ladies to Monville's.—Captain Irwin with us
The rest of this para
raph appears to be a minute of what was told by Capt
in I
win.
.—Spain. County towns all beggars.—At Dijon he could not find the way to Orleans.—Cross roads of France very bad.—Five soldiers.—Woman.—Soldiers escaped.—The Colonel would not lose five men for the death of one woman.—The magistrate cannot seize a soldier but by the Colonel's permission.—Good inn at Nismes.—Moors of Barbary fond of Englishmen.—Gibraltar eminently healthy;—it has beef from Barbary.—There is a large garden.—Soldiers sometimes fall from the rock.
Oct. 13. Friday. I staid at home all day, only went to find the Prior, who was not at home.—I read something in Canus
Melchior Canus, a celebrated Spanish Dominican, who died at T
l
d
, in 1
60. He wrote a treatise
D
L
s The
log
in twel
e boo
.
.—
Nec admiror, nec multum laudo.
Oct. 14. Saturday. We went to the house of Mr. Argenson, which was almost wainscotted with looking-glasses▪ and covered with gold.—The ladies' closet wainscotted with large squares of glass over painted paper. They always place mirrours to reflect their rooms.
Then we went to Julien's, the Treasurer of the Clergy:—30, 000l. a year.—The house has no very large room, but is set with mirrours, and covered with gold.—Books of wood here, and in another library.
At D—'s I looked into the books in the lady's closet, and, in contempt, shewed them to Mr. T.—
Prince Titi; Bibl. des Fées,
and other books.—She was offended, and shut up, as we heard afterwards, her apartment.
Then we went to Julien Le Roy, the King's watch-maker, a man of character in his business, who shewed a small clock made to find the longitude.—A decent man.
Afterwards we saw the
Palais Marchand,
and the Courts of Justice, civil and criminal.—Queries on the
Sellette.
—This building has the old Gothick passages, and a great appearance of antiquity.—Three hundred prisoners sometimes in the gaol.
Much disturbed;—hope no ill will be
This passage, which some may think superstitious, remind
me of Archbish
p L
ud
Diary.
.
In the afternoon I visited Mr. Freron the journalist. He spoke Latin very scantily, but seemed to understand me.—His house not splendid, but of commodious size.—His family, wife, son, and daughter, not elevated but decent.—I was pleased with my reception.—He is to translate my book, which I am to send him with notes.
Oct. 15. Sunday. At Choisi, a royal palace on the banks of the Seine, about 7 m. from Paris.—The terrace noble along the river.—The rooms numerous and grand, but not discriminated from other palaces.—The chapel beautiful, but small.—China globes.—Inlaid table.—Labyrinth.—Sinking table.—Toilet tables.
Oct. 16. Monday. The Palais Royal very grand, large, and lofty.—A very great collection of pictures.—Three of Raphael.—Two Holy Family.—One small piece of M. Angelo.—One room of Rubens.—I thought the pictures of Raphael fine.
The Thuilleries.—Statues.—Venus.—Aen. and Anchises in his arms.—Nilus.—Many more.—The walks not open to mean persons.—Chairs at night hired for two sous a piece.—Pont tournant.
Austin Nuns.—Grate.—Mrs. Fermor, Abbess.—She knew Pope, and thought him disagreeable.—Mrs.—has many books;—has seen life.—Their frontlet disagreeable.—Their hood.—Their life easy.—Rise about five; hour and half in chapel.—Dine at ten.—Another hour and half at chapel; half an hour about three, and half an hour more at seven:—four hours in chapel.—A large garden.—Thirteen pensioners.—Teacher complained.
At the Boulevards saw nothing, yet was glad to be there.—Rope-dancing and farce.—Egg dance.
N. [Note.] Near Paris, whether on week-days or Sundays, the roads empty.
Oct. 17. Tuesday. At the Palais Marchand.—I bought
A snuff-box,
24 L▪
—
6
Table book
15
Scissars 3 p [pair]
18
 
63=2 12 6
We heard the lawyers plead.—N. As many killed at Paris as there are days in the year.—
Chambre de question.
—Tournelle at the Palais Marchand.—An old venerable building.
The Palais Bourbon, belonging to the Prince of Condé. Only one small wing shown;—losty; splendid;—gold and glass.—The battles of the great Condé are painted in one of the rooms. The present Prince a grandsire at thirty-nine.
The sight of palaces, and other great buildings, leaves no very distinct images, unless to those who talk of them, and impress them. As I entered, my wife was in my mind
His tender affection for his departed wife, of which there are many evidences in his
"Prayers and Meditations,"
appears very feelingly in this passage.
: she would have been pleased. Having now nobody to please, I am little pleased.
N. In France there is no middle rank.
So many shops open, that Sunday is little distinguished at Paris.—The palaces of Louvre and Thuilleries granted out in lodgings.
In the
Palais de Bourbon,
gilt globes of metal at the fire-place.
The French beds commended.—Much of the marble, only paste.
The Colosseum a mere wooden building, at least much of it.
Oct. 18. Wednesday. We went to Fontainebleau, which we found a large mean town, crouded with people.—The forest thick with woods, very extensive.—Manucci secured us lodging.—The appearance of the country pleasant.—No hills, few streams, only one hedge.—I remember no chapels nor crosses on the road.—Pavement still, and rows of trees.
N. Nobody but mean people walk in Paris.
Oct. 19. Thursday. At court, we saw the apartments;—the King's bed-chamber and council-chamber extremely splendid.—Persons of all ranks in the external rooms through which the family passes;—servants and masters.—Brunet with us the second time.
The introductor came to us;—civil to me.—Presenting.—I had scruples. Not necessary.—We went and saw the King and Queen at dinner.—We saw the other ladies at dinner—Madame Elizabeth, with the Princess of Guimené.—At night we went to a comedy. I neither saw nor heard.—Drunken women.—Mrs. Th. preferred one to the other.
Oct. 20. Friday. We saw the Queen mount in the forest.—Brown habit; rode aside: one lady rode aside.—The Queen's horse light grey;—martingale.—She galloped.—We then went to the apartments, and admired them.—Then wandered through the palace.—In the passages, stalls and shops.—Painting in fresco by a great master, worn out.—We saw the King's horses and dogs.—The dogs almost all English.—Degenerate.
The horses not much commended.—The stables cool; the kennel filthy.
At night the ladies went to the opera. I refused, but should have been welcome.
The King fed himself with his left hand as we.
Saturday, 21. In the night I got ground.—We came home to Paris.—I think we did not see the chapel.—Tree broken by the wind.—The French chairs made all of boards painted.
N. Soldiers at the court of justice.—Soldiers not amenable to the magistrates.—Dijon woman
See p. 503.
.
Faggots in the palace.—Every thing slovenly, except in the chief rooms.—Trees in the roads, some tall, none old, many very young and small.
Women's saddles seem ill made.—Queen's bridle woven with silver.—Tags to strike the horse.
Sunday, Oct. 22. To Versailles, a mean town.—Carriages of business passing.—Mean shops against the wall.—Our way lay through Séve, where the China manufacture.—Wooden bridge at Séve, in the way to Versailles.—The palace of great extent.—The front long; I saw it not perfectly.—The Menagerie. Cygnets dark; their black feet; on the ground; tame.—Halcyons, or gulls.—Stag and hind, young.—Aviary, very large: the net, wire.—Black stag of China, small.—Rhinoceros, the horn broken and pared away, which, I suppose, will grow; the basis, I think, four inches cross; the skin folds like loose cloth doubled over his body, and cross his hips; a vast animal though young; as big, perhaps, as four oxen.—The young elephant, with his tusks just appearing.—The brown bear put out his paws;—all very tame.—The lion.—The tigers I did not well view.—The camel, or dromedary with two bunches, called the Huguin
This epithet should be applied to this animal with one bunch.
, taller than any horse.—Two camels with one bunch.—Among the birds was a pelican, who being let out, went to a fountain, and swam about to catch fish. His feet well webbed: he dipped his head, and turned his long bill sidewise. He caught two or three fish, but did not eat them.
Trianon is a kind of retreat appendant to Versailles. It has an open portico; the pavement, and, I think, the pillars, of marble.—There are many rooms▪ which I do not distinctly remember.—A table of porphyry, about five feet long, and between two and three broad, given to Lewis XIV. by the Venetian State.—In the council-room almost all that was not door or window, was, I think, looking-glass.—Little Trianon is a small palace like a gentleman's house.—The upper floor paved with brick.—Little Vienne.—The court is ill paved.—The rooms at the top are small, fit to sooth the imagination with privacy. In the front of Versailles are small basons of water on the terrace▪
other basons, I think, below them.—There are little courts.—The great gallery wainscotted with mirrors, not very large, but joined by frames. I suppose the large plates were not yet made.—The play-house was very large.—The chapel I do not remember if we saw.—We saw one chapel, but I am not certain whether there or at Trianon.—The foreign office paved with bricks.—The dinner half a Louis each, and, I think, a Louis over.—Money given at Menagerie, three livres; at palace, six livres.
Oct. 23. Monday. Last night I wrote to Levet.—We went to see the looking-glasses wrought. They come from Normandy in cast plates, perhaps the third of an inch thick. At Paris they are ground upon a marble table, by rubbing one plate on another with grit between them. The various sands, of which there are said to be five, I could not learn. The handle, by which the upper glass is moved, has the form of a wheel, which may be moved in all directions. The plates are sent up with their surfaces ground, but not polished, and so continue till they are bespoken, lest time should spoil the surface, as we were told. Those that are to be polished, are laid on a table covered with several thick cloths, hard strained, that the resistance may be equal; they are then rubbed with a hand rubber, held down hard by a contrivance which I did not well understand. The powder which is used last seemed to me to be iron dissolved in aqua fortis: they called it, as Baretti said,
marc de l'eau forte,
which he thought was dregs. They mentioned vitriol and saltpetre. The cannon ball swam in the quicksilver. To silver them, a leaf of beaten tin is laid, and rubbed with quicksilver, to which it unites. Then more quicksilver is poured upon it, which, by its mutual [attraction] rises very high. Then a paper is laid at the nearest end of the plate, over which the glass is slided till it lies upon the plate, having driven much of the quicksilver before it. It is then, I think, pressed upon cloths, and then set sloping to drop the superfluous mercury; the slope is daily heigthened towards a perpendicular.
In the way I saw the Grêve, the mayor's house, and the Bastile.
We then went to Sans-terre, a brewer. He brews with about as much malt as Mr. Thrale, and sells his beer at the same price, though he pays no duty for malt, and little more than half as much for beer. Beer is sold retail at 6d. a bottle. He brews 4,000 barrels a year. There are seventeen brewers in Paris, of whom none is supposed to brew more than he:—reckoning them at 3,000 each, they make 51,000 a year.—They make their malt, for malting is here no trade.
The moat of the Bastile is dry.
Oct. 24. Tuesday. We visited the King's library—I saw the
Spec
humanae Salvationis,
rudely printed, with ink, sometimes pale, someti
es black; part supposed to be with wooden types, and part with pages cut on boards.—The Bible, supposed to be older than that of Mentz, in 62: it has no date; it is supposed to have been printed with wooden types.—I am in doubt; the print is large and fair, in two folios.—Another book was shown me, supposed to have been printed with wooden types;—I think,
Durandi Sanctuarium
in 58. This is inferred from the difference of form, sometimes seen in the same letter, which might be struck with different puncheons.—The regular similitude of most letters proves better that they are metal.—I saw nothing but the
Speculum
which I had not seen, I think, before.
Thence to the Sorbonne.—The library very large, not in lattices like the King's.
Marbone
and
Durandi,
q. collection 14 vol.
Scriptores de rebus Gallicis,
many folios.—
Histoire Genealogique of France,
9 vol.—
Gallia Christiana,
the first edition, 4to. the last, f. 12 vol.—The Prior and Librarian dined [with us]:—I waited on them home.—Their garden pretty, with covered walks, but small; yet may hold many students.—The Doctors of the Sorbonne are all equal;—choose those who succeed to vacancies.—Profit little.
Oct. 25. Wednesday. I went with the Prior to St. Cloud, to see Dr. Hooke.—We walked round the palace, and had some talk.—I dined with our whole company at the Monastery.—In the library,
Beroald,—Cymon,—Titus,
—from Boccace
Oratio Proverbialis;
to the Virgin, from Petrarch; Falkland to Sandys;—Dryden's Preface to the third vol. of Miscellanies
He means, I suppose, that he
read
these different pieces, while he remained in the library.
.
Oct. 26. Thursday. We saw the china at Séve, cut, glazed, painted. Bellevue, a pleasing house, not great: fine prospect.—Meudon, an old palace.—Alexander in porphyry: hollow between eyes and nose, thin cheeks.—Plato and Aristotle.—Noble terrace overlooks the town.—St. Cloud.—Gallery not very high, nor grand, but pleasing.—In the rooms, Michael Angelo, drawn by himself, Sir Thomas More, Des Cartes, Bochart, Naudaeus, Mazarine.—Gilded wainscot, so common that it is not minded.—Gough and Keene.—Hooke came to us at the inn.—A message from Drumgould.
Oct. 27. Friday. I staid at home.—Gough and Keene, and Mrs. S—'s friend dined with us.—This day we began to have a fire.—The weather is grown very cold, and I fear, has a bad effect upon my breath, which has grown much more free and easy in this country.
Sat. Oct. 28. I visited the Grand Chartreux built by St. Louis.—It is built for forty, but contains only twenty-four, and will not maintain more.—The friar that spoke to us had a pretty apartment.—Mr. Baretti says, four rooms; I remember but three.—His books seemed to be French.—His garden was neat; he gave me grapes.—We saw the Place de Victoire, with the statues of the King, and the captive nations.
We saw the palace and gardens of Luxembourg, but the gallery was shut.—We climbed to the top stairs.—I dined with Colbrooke, who had much company:—Foote, Sir George Rodney, Motteux, Udson, Taaf.—Called on the Prior, and found him in bed.
Hotel—a guinea a day.—Coach, three guineas a week.—Valet de place, three l. a day.—
Avant-coureur,
a guinea a week.—Ordinary dinner, six l. a head.—Our ordinary seems to be about five guineas a day.—Our extraordinary expences, as diversions, gratuities, clothes, I cannot reckon.—Our travelling is ten guineas a day.
White stockings, 18 l. Wig.—Hat.
Sunday, Oct. 29. We saw the boarding-school.—The
Enfans trouvés.
—A room with about eighty-six children in cradles, as sweet as a parlour.—They lose a third; take in to perhaps more than seven [years old]; put them to trades; pin to them the papers sent with them.—Want nurses.—Saw their chapel.
Went to St. Eustatia; saw an innumerable company of girls catechised, in many bodies, perhaps 100 to a catechist.—Boys taught at one time, girls at another.—The sermon; the preacher wears a cap, which he takes off at the name:—his action uniform, not very violent.
Oct. 30. Monday. We saw the library of St. Germain.—A very noble collection.—
Codex Divinorum Officiorum,
1459:—a letter, square like that of the
Offices,
perhaps the same.—The
Codex,
by Fust and Gernsheym.—
Meursius,
12 v. fol.—
Amadis,
in French, 3 v. fol.—CATHOLICON
sine colophone,
but of 1460.—Two other editions
I have looked in vain into De Bu
e. Meerman, Mattaire, and other typographical books, for the two editions of the
"C
l A
on,
which Dr. Johnson mentions here, with
which I cannot make out. I read
"one by
one by
B
d
nus."
I have deposited the original MS. in the British Museum, where the curi
us may s
e it. My grateful a
knowledgements are due to Mr. Planta for the trouble he was pleased to take in aiding my researches.
, one by
Augustin. de Civitate Dei,
without name, date, or place, but of Fust's square letter as it seems.
I dined with Col. Dru
gould;—had a pleasing afternoon.
Some of the books of St. Germain's stand in presses from the wall, like those at Oxford.
Oct. 31. Tuesday. I lived at the Benedictines; meagre day; soup meagre, herrings, eels, both with sauce; fryed fish; lentils, tasteless in themselves. In the library; where I found
Maffeus's de Historiâ Indicâ: Promontorium flectere, to double the Cape.
I parted very tenderly from the Prior and Friar Wilkes.
Maitre es Arts,
2 y.—
Bacc. Theol.
3 y.—
Licentiate,
2 y.—
Doctor Th.
2 y. in all 9 years.—For the doctorate three disputations,
Major, Minor, Sorbonica.
—Several colleges suppressed, and transferred to that which was the Jesuit's College.
Nov. 1. Wednesday. We left Paris.—St. Denis, a large town; the church not very large, but the middle isle is very lofty and aweful.—On the left are chapels built beyond the line of the wall, which destroy the symmetry of the sides.—The organ is higher above the pavement than any I have ever seen.—The gates are of brass.—On the middle gate is the history of our Lord.—The painted windows are historical, and said to be eminently beautiful.—We were at another church belonging to a convent, of which the portal is a dome; we could not enter further, and it was almost dark.
Nov. 2. Thursday. We came this day to Chantilly, a seat belonging to the Prince of Condé.—This place is eminently beautified by all varieties of waters starting up in fountains, falling in cascades, running in streams, and spread in lakes.—The water seems to be too near the house.—All this water is brought from a source or river three leagues off, by an artificial canal, which for one league is carried under ground.—The house is magnificent.—The cabinet seems well stocked: what I remember was, the jaws of a hippopotamus, and a young hippopotamus preserved, which, however, is so small that I doubt its reality.—It seems too hairy for an abortion, and too small for a mature birth.—Nothing was in spirits; all was dry.—The dog; the deer; the ant-bear with long snout.—The toucan, long broad beak.—The stables were of very great length.—The kennel had no scents.—There was a mockery of a village.—The Menagerie had few animals
The writing is so bad here, that the names of several of the animals could not be decyphered without much more acquaintance with natural history than I possess. Dr. Blagden, with his usual politeness, most obligingly examined the MS. To that gentleman, and to Dr. Gray, of the British Museum, who also very readily assisted me, I beg leave to express my best thanks.
.—Two faussans
It is thus written by Johnson, from the French pronunciation of
Fossane.
It should be observed, that the person who showed this Menagerie was mistaken in supposing the
fossane
and the Brasilian weasel to be the same, the
fossane
being a different animal, and a native of Madagascar. I find them, however, upon one plate in Pennant's
"Synopsis of Quadrupeds."
, or Brasilian weasels, spotted, very wild.—There is a forest, and, I think, a park.— I walked till I was very weary, and next morning felt my feet battered, and with pains in the toes.
Nov. 3. Friday. We came to Compiegne, a very large town, with a royal palace built round a pentagonal court.—The court is raifed upon vaults, and has, I suppose an entry on one side by a gentle rise.—Talk of painting.—The church is not very large, but very elegant and splendid.—I had at first great difficulty to walk, but motion grew continually easier.—At night we came to Noyon, an episcopal city.—The cathedral is very beautiful, the pillars alternately Gothick and Corinthian.—We entered a very noble parochial church.—Noyon is walled, and is said to be three miles round.
Nov. 4. Saturday. We rose very early, and came through St. Quintin to Cambray, not long after three.—We went to an English nunnery, to give a letter to Father Welch, the confessor, who came to visit us in the evening.
Nov. 5. Sunday. We saw the cathedral.—It is very beautiful, with chapels on each side.—The choir splendid.—The balustrade in one part brass.—The Neff very high and grand.—The altar silver as far as it is seen.—The vestments very splendid.—At the Benedictines church—
Here his journal
My worthy and ingenious friend, Mr. Andrew Lumisdaine, by his
a
quaintance with France, enabled me to make out many proper name
, which Dr. Johnson had written indistinctly, and sometimes spelt erroneously
ends abruptly. Whether he wrote any more after this time, I know not; but probably not much, as he arrived in England about the 12th of November. These short notes of his tour, though they may seem minute taken singly, make together a considerable mass of information, and exhibit such an ardour of enquiry and acuteness of examination, as, I believe, are found in but few travellers, especially at an advanced age. They completely refute the idle notion which has been propagated,
that he could not see;
and, if he had taken the trouble to revise and digest them, he undoubtedly could have expanded them into a very entertaining narrative.
When I met him in London the following year, the account which he gave me of his French tour, was,
"Sir, I have seen all the visibilities of Paris, and around it; but to have formed an acquaintance with the people there, would have required more time than I could stay. I was just beginning to creep into acquaintance by means of Colonel Drumgould, a very high man, Sir, head of
L'Ecole Militaire,
a most complete character, for he had first been a professor of rhetorick, and then became a soldier. And, Sir, I was very kindly treated by the English Benedictines, and have a cell appropriated to me in their convent."
He observed,
"The great in France live very magnificently, but the rest very miserably. There is no happy middle state as in England. The shops of Paris are mean; the meat in the markets is such as would be sent to a gaol in England: and Mr. Thrale justly observed, that the cookery of the French was forced upon them by necessity; for they could not eat their meat, unless they added some taste to it. The French are an indelicate people; they will spit upon any place. At Madame—'s, a literary lady of rank, the footman took the sugar in his fingers, and threw it into my coffee. I was going to put it aside; but hearing it was made on purpose for me, I e'en tasted Tom's fingers. The same lady would needs make tea
á l' Angloise.
The spout of the tea-pot did not pour freely: she bade the footman blow into it. France is worse than Scotland in every thing but climate. Nature has done more for the French; but they have done less for themselves than the Scotch have done."
It happened that Foote was at Paris at the same time with Dr. Johnson, and his description of my friend while there was abundantly ludicrous. He told me, that the French were quite astonished at his figure and manner, and at his dress, which he obstinately continued exactly as in London;—his brown clothes, black stockings, and plain shirt. He mentioned, that an Irish gentleman said to Johnson,
"Sir, you have not seen the best French players."
JOHNSON.
"Players, Sir! I look on them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint-stools to make faces and produce laughter, like dancing dogs."
—
"But, Sir, you will allow that some players are better than others?"
JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir, as some dogs dance better than others."
While Johnson was in France, he was generally very resolute in speaking Latin. It was a maxim with him that a man should not let himself down, by speaking a language which he speaks imperfectly. Indeed, we must have often observed how inseriour, how much like a child a man appears, who speaks a broken tongue. When Sir Joshua Reynolds, at one of the dinners of the Royal Academy, presented him to a Frenchman of great distinction, he would not deign to speak French, but talked Latin, though his Excellency did not understand it, owing, perhaps, to Johnson's English pronunciation: yet upon another occasion he was observed to speak French to a Frenchman of high rank, who spoke English; and being asked the reason, with some expression of surprize,—he answered,
"Because I think my French is as good as his English."
Though Johnson understood French perfectly, he could not speak it readily, as I have observed at his first interview with General Paoli, in 1769; yet he wrote it, I imagine, very well, as appears from some of his letters in Mrs. Piozzi's collection, of which I shall transcribe one.
A Madame La Comtesse de—
July 16, 1771.
OUI, Madame, le moment est arrivé, et il faut que je parte. Mais pourquoi faut il partir? Est ce que je m'ennuye? Je m'ennuyerai alleurs. Est ce que je cherche ou quelque plaisir, ou quelque soulagement? Je ne cherche rien, je n'espere rien. Aller voir ce que jai vû, etre un peu rejoué, un peu degouté, ne resouvenir que la vie se passe, et qu'elle se passe en vain, me plaindre de moi, m'endurcir aux dehors; voici le tout de ce qu'on compte pour les delices de l'anné. Que Dieu vous donne, Madame, tous les agrémens de la vie, avec un esprit qui peut en jouir sans s'y livrer trop.
Here let me not forget a curious anecdote, as related to me by Mr. Beauclerk, which I shall endeavour to exhibit as well as I can in that gentleman's lively manner; and in justice to him it is proper to add, that Dr. Johnson told me, I might rely both on the correctness of his memory, and the fidelity of his narrative.
"When Madame de Boufflers was first in England, (said Beauclerk,) she was desirous to see Johnson. I accordingly went with her to his chambers in the Temple, where she was entertained with his conversation for some time. When our visit was over, she and I left him, and were got into Inner Temple-lane, when all at once I heard a noise like thunder. This was occasioned by Johnson, who it seems upon a little recollection, had taken it into his head that he ought to have done the honours of his literary residence to a foreign lady of quality, and eager to shew himself a man of gallantry, was hurrying down the staircase in violent agitation. He overtook us before we reached the Templegate, and brushing in between me and Madame de Boufsiers, seised her hand, and conducted her to her coach. His dress was a rusty brown morning suit, a pair of old shoes by way of slippers, a little shrivelled wig sticking on the top of his he
d, and the sleeves of his shirt and the knees of his breeches hanging loose. A considerable crowd of people gathered round, and were not a little struck by this singular appearance."
He spoke Latin with wonderful fluency and elegance. When Pere Boscovich was in England, Johnson dined in company with him at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, and at Dr. Douglas's, now Bishop of Carlisle. Upon both occasions that celebrated foreigner expressed his astonishment at Johnson's Latin conversation.
To Dr.
SAMUEL JOHNSON.
MY DEAR SIR,
Edinburgh,
Dec. 5. 1775.
MR. ALEXANDER MACLEAN, the present young Laird of Col, being to set out to-morrow for London, I give him this letter to introduce him to your acquaintance. The kindness which you and I experienced from his brother, whose unfortunate death we sincerely lament, will make us always desirous to shew attention to any branch of the family. Indeed, you have so much of the true Highland cordiality, that I am sure you would have thought me to blame if I had neglected to recommend to you this Hebridean prince, in whose island we were hospitably entertained. I ever am with respectful attachment,
my dear Sir,
Your most obliged And most humble Servant, JAMES BOSWELL.
Mr. Maclean returned with the most agreeable accounts of the polite attention with which he was received by Dr. Johnson.
In the course of this year Dr. Burney informs me, that
"he very frequently met Dr. Johnson at Mr. Thrale's, at Streatham, where they had many long conversations, often sitting up as long as the fire and candles lasted, and much longer than the patience of the servants subsisted."
A few of Johnson's sayings, which that gentleman recollects, shall here be inserted.
"I never take a nap after dinner but when I have had a bad night, and then the nap takes me."
"The writer of an epitaph should not be considered as saying nothing but what is strictly true. Allowance must be made for some degree of exaggerated praise. In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath."
"There is now less flogging in our great schools than formerly, but then less is learned there; so that what the boys get at one end, they lose at the other."
"More is learned in publick than in private schools, from emulation; there is the collision of mind with mind, or the radiation of many minds pointing to one center. Though few boys make their own exercises, yet if a good exercise is given up, out of a great number of boys, it is made by somebody."
"I hate bye-roads in education. Education is as well known, and has long been as well known, as ever it can be. Endeavouring to make children prematurely wise is useless labour. Suppose they have more knowledge at five or six years old than other children, what use can be made of it? It will be lost before it is wanted, and the waste of so much time and labour of the teacher can never be repaid. Too much is expected from precocity, and too little performed. Miss—was an instance of early cultivation▪ but in what did it terminate? In marrying a little Presbyterian parson, who keeps an infant boarding-school, so that all her employment now is, 'to suckle fools and chronicle small beer.' She tells the children, 'This is a cat, and that is a dog, with four legs and a tail; see there! you are much better than a cat or a dog, for you can speak.' If I had bestowed such an education on a daughter, and had discovered that she thought of marrying such a fellow, I would have sent her to the
Congress."
After having talked slightingly of musick, he was observed to listen very attentively while Miss Thrale played on the harpsichord, and with eagerness he called to her,
"Why don't you dash away like Burney?"
Dr. Burney upon this said to him,
"I believe, Sir, we shall make a musician of you at last."
Johnson with candid complacency replied,
"Sir, I shall be glad to have a new sense given to me."
He had come down one morning to the breakfast-room, and been a considerable time by himself before any body appeared. When on a subsequent day, he was twitted by Mrs. Thrale for being very late, which he generally was, he defended himself by alluding to the extraordinary morning, when he had been too early,
"Madam, I do not like to come down to
vacuity."
Dr. Burney having remarked that Mr. Garrick was beginning to look old, he said,
"Why, Sir, you are not to wonder at that; no man's face has had more wear and tear."
Not having heard from him for a longer time than I supposed he would be silent, I wrote to him December 18, not in good spirits,
"Sometimes I have been afraid that the cold which has gone over Europe this year like a sort of pestilence, has scised you severely; sometimes my imagination, which is upon occasions prolifick of evil, hath figured that you may have somehow taken offence at some part of my conduct."
To
JAMES BOSWELL,
Esq.
DEAR SIR,
NEVER dream of any offence, how should you offend me? I consider your friendship as a possession, which I intend to hold till you take it from me, and to lament if ever by my fault I should lose it. However, when such suspicions find their way into your mind, always give them vent, I shall make haste to disperse them, but hinder their first ingress if you can. Consider such thoughts as morbid.
Such illness as may excuse my omission to Lord Hailes I cannot honestly plead. I have been hindered I know not how, by a succession of petty obstructions. I hope to mend immediately, and to send next post to his Lordship. Mr. Thrale would have written to you if I had omitted; he sends his compliments, and wishes to see you.
You and your lady will now have no more wrangling about feudal inheritance. How does the young Laird of Auchinleck? I suppose Miss Veronica is grown a reader and discourser.
I have just now got a cough, but it has never yet hindered me from sleeping: I have had quieter nights than are common with me.
I cannot but rejoice that Joseph
Joseph Rieter, a Bohemian, who was in my service many years, and attended Dr. Johnson and me in our Tour to the Hebrides. After having left me for some time, he had now returned to me.
has had the wit to find the way back. He is a fine fellow, and one of the best travellers in the world.
Young Col brought me your letter. He is a very pleasing youth. I took him two days ago to the Mitre, and we dined together. I was as civil as I had the means of being.
I have had a letter from Rasay, acknowledging, with great appearance of satisfaction, the insertion in the Edinburgh paper. I am very glad that it was done.
My compliments to Mrs. Boswell, who does not love me; and of all the rest, I need only send them to those that do; and I am afraid it will give you very little trouble to distribute them.
I am, my dear, dear Sir, Your affectionate humble servant, SAM. JOHNSON.
December 23, 1775.
THE END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.